>Fake accounts linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been stirring up tension in Britain, American academics suggest
>Bogus accounts linked to the Iranian military have been more vocal in support of Scottish independence on X than the Scottish National Party, analysis suggests.
>Academics based at Clemson University in the United States have uncovered a network of more than 80 accounts on the social media platform that appear to be masquerading as left-leaning British citizens.
>Their investigation has concluded that the accounts are probably run by, or on behalf of, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s powerful military wing, with the aim of inciting tensions in the UK.
>The fake accounts were responsible for at least 4 per cent of the discussion on X surrounding Scottish independence early this year, about four times that of the official SNP account.
>The Iranian network has published material critical of the British monarchy, with one post claiming that Prince George was given flying lessons at the age of 11 “as children across the UK suffer due to ‘cost of living crisis’”.
>Another post, which said “the people robbing this country travel by private jet not by dinghy”, was viewed a million times, receiving 82,000 likes and 800 comments.
>During the summer, the accounts also sought to stoke outrage over anti-immigration riots. The network was especially critical of Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, calling him a “worthless, snide bigot” who “sows divisiveness, deceit and hatred”.
The academics behind the report were among the first to identify how bogus Russian troll accounts were seeking to influence the United States presidential election in 2016.
>Iranians pretending to be Britons on social media have been identified in the past. However, the latest accounts appear to be more sophisticated. Several have biographies attached, such as “Ex NHS Nurse. Hopeful for a better future with a lot less inequality”. The photographs used for profile pictures appear to have been taken from elsewhere on the internet or generated using artificial intelligence. They have amassed about 250,000 followers.
>Professor Darren Linvill, a co-author of the report, said: “It’s clear that the IRGC is taking on an extremely active role in supporting Scottish independence across social media.
“This makes the issue appear more prominent than it would be otherwise. More importantly, it makes the pro-independence position appear more popular than it would otherwise be, and anyone in sales will tell you that the bandwagon fallacy [when someone argues that something is true because many people believe it] is a powerful tool.”
>He added: “Platforms and governments can and should be doing more. X, in particular, has stepped away from meaningful work to mitigate this type of activity, and the impact is clear.”
>Linvill and his co-author, Patrick Warren, add in the report: “The campaign we have detailed here has been ongoing for multiple years without previous public identification and has had significant organic engagement from genuine British accounts.
>“We suggest that this co-ordinated network, in addition to the content shared by other recent reporting, illustrates a marked increase in both quality and quantity of Iranian — and likely the IRGC’s specifically — digital influence operations. Relative to past campaigns attributed to Iran, this campaign’s sophistication and reach should be concerning.”
>X was approached for comment.
Beautiful-Health-976 on
That was only a matter of time until some foreign power backs this. However, the biggest danger are 10 years of Starmer who ignores Scotland.
Fractalien on
Weakening any country/alliance of your enemies makes sense so it is no surprise to hear this. The other biggest backers are probably other countries like Russia and China. Probably similar to Brexit, elections and anything else of a similar nature in any country where people indulge in social media.
Jrob99708 on
English Republicans should be the biggest backers
I still haven’t heard a good reason for England to be in the UK
whatsgoingon350 on
Doesn’t surprise me. The independence thing was mostly an excuse for the SNP to give people false promises that they never had to keep.
michaelisnotginger on
This has been known for 10 years. Salmond of course, has been on ~~PressTV~~ Russia Today with his own talkshow
EDIT: Also worth noting Reddit has been repeatedly gamed with propaganda from Iran.
1057cause on
This is propaganda.
I’m not saying that is good or bad but people should be aware that is what this is.
Special_marshmallow on
UK has a lot of cleaning up to do, and the labour party is absolutely complicit
swed2019 on
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Welsh and Irish nationalists were backed by Libya, Russia and other enemies of the west. Obviously Scottish nationalists are going to be backed by them as well. They’re useful idiots.
Boorish_Bear on
Does this imply there’s a small body of Iranian intelligence operatives on /r/Scotland given how obsessed many of their users are with the concept of independence?
I’m married to a Scot and of the dozens of friends and family I know that are Scottish, exactly 2 are in favour of independence. They’re aged 7 and 10 respectively.
TheCrunker on
Funny that.
Iran, Russia and China have ploughed millions into divisive campaigns such as Brexit, Trump in the US, and even getting Liz Truss elected.
rocc_high_racks on
Lol. Russia is giving them the hand-me-down foreign interference operations that didn’t pan out.
haphazard_chore on
We need to implement controls on social media by state actors. These authoritarian regimes play with our populations and amazingly do many are convicted. We should cut inter-connectors with all authoritarian regimes as far as I’m concerned
WalkerCam on
I must say, it would be a lot harder to propagandise against the UK if the UK wasn’t so shite. I mean, “the people robbing this country travel by private jet not small boats” is objectively true.
AbuBenHaddock on
Can’t spell “Iran Rub” without “IRN BRU”.
Think about it.
GorgieRules1874 on
Russia also interfered with the referendum in 2014, of course in favour of the YES campaign.
That’s because it’s obvious to anyone with a brain cell that Scottish independence would be a disaster for Scotland and terrible for the UK as a whole.
Thankfully the nationalist days are over in Scotland!
16 Comments
>Fake accounts linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been stirring up tension in Britain, American academics suggest
>Bogus accounts linked to the Iranian military have been more vocal in support of Scottish independence on X than the Scottish National Party, analysis suggests.
>Academics based at Clemson University in the United States have uncovered a network of more than 80 accounts on the social media platform that appear to be masquerading as left-leaning British citizens.
>Their investigation has concluded that the accounts are probably run by, or on behalf of, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s powerful military wing, with the aim of inciting tensions in the UK.
>The fake accounts were responsible for at least 4 per cent of the discussion on X surrounding Scottish independence early this year, about four times that of the official SNP account.
>The Iranian network has published material critical of the British monarchy, with one post claiming that Prince George was given flying lessons at the age of 11 “as children across the UK suffer due to ‘cost of living crisis’”.
>Another post, which said “the people robbing this country travel by private jet not by dinghy”, was viewed a million times, receiving 82,000 likes and 800 comments.
>During the summer, the accounts also sought to stoke outrage over anti-immigration riots. The network was especially critical of Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, calling him a “worthless, snide bigot” who “sows divisiveness, deceit and hatred”.
The academics behind the report were among the first to identify how bogus Russian troll accounts were seeking to influence the United States presidential election in 2016.
>Iranians pretending to be Britons on social media have been identified in the past. However, the latest accounts appear to be more sophisticated. Several have biographies attached, such as “Ex NHS Nurse. Hopeful for a better future with a lot less inequality”. The photographs used for profile pictures appear to have been taken from elsewhere on the internet or generated using artificial intelligence. They have amassed about 250,000 followers.
>Professor Darren Linvill, a co-author of the report, said: “It’s clear that the IRGC is taking on an extremely active role in supporting Scottish independence across social media.
“This makes the issue appear more prominent than it would be otherwise. More importantly, it makes the pro-independence position appear more popular than it would otherwise be, and anyone in sales will tell you that the bandwagon fallacy [when someone argues that something is true because many people believe it] is a powerful tool.”
>He added: “Platforms and governments can and should be doing more. X, in particular, has stepped away from meaningful work to mitigate this type of activity, and the impact is clear.”
>Linvill and his co-author, Patrick Warren, add in the report: “The campaign we have detailed here has been ongoing for multiple years without previous public identification and has had significant organic engagement from genuine British accounts.
>“We suggest that this co-ordinated network, in addition to the content shared by other recent reporting, illustrates a marked increase in both quality and quantity of Iranian — and likely the IRGC’s specifically — digital influence operations. Relative to past campaigns attributed to Iran, this campaign’s sophistication and reach should be concerning.”
>X was approached for comment.
That was only a matter of time until some foreign power backs this. However, the biggest danger are 10 years of Starmer who ignores Scotland.
Weakening any country/alliance of your enemies makes sense so it is no surprise to hear this. The other biggest backers are probably other countries like Russia and China. Probably similar to Brexit, elections and anything else of a similar nature in any country where people indulge in social media.
English Republicans should be the biggest backers
I still haven’t heard a good reason for England to be in the UK
Doesn’t surprise me. The independence thing was mostly an excuse for the SNP to give people false promises that they never had to keep.
This has been known for 10 years. Salmond of course, has been on ~~PressTV~~ Russia Today with his own talkshow
EDIT: Also worth noting Reddit has been repeatedly gamed with propaganda from Iran.
This is propaganda.
I’m not saying that is good or bad but people should be aware that is what this is.
UK has a lot of cleaning up to do, and the labour party is absolutely complicit
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Welsh and Irish nationalists were backed by Libya, Russia and other enemies of the west. Obviously Scottish nationalists are going to be backed by them as well. They’re useful idiots.
Does this imply there’s a small body of Iranian intelligence operatives on /r/Scotland given how obsessed many of their users are with the concept of independence?
I’m married to a Scot and of the dozens of friends and family I know that are Scottish, exactly 2 are in favour of independence. They’re aged 7 and 10 respectively.
Funny that.
Iran, Russia and China have ploughed millions into divisive campaigns such as Brexit, Trump in the US, and even getting Liz Truss elected.
Lol. Russia is giving them the hand-me-down foreign interference operations that didn’t pan out.
We need to implement controls on social media by state actors. These authoritarian regimes play with our populations and amazingly do many are convicted. We should cut inter-connectors with all authoritarian regimes as far as I’m concerned
I must say, it would be a lot harder to propagandise against the UK if the UK wasn’t so shite. I mean, “the people robbing this country travel by private jet not small boats” is objectively true.
Can’t spell “Iran Rub” without “IRN BRU”.
Think about it.
Russia also interfered with the referendum in 2014, of course in favour of the YES campaign.
That’s because it’s obvious to anyone with a brain cell that Scottish independence would be a disaster for Scotland and terrible for the UK as a whole.
Thankfully the nationalist days are over in Scotland!