Iran „gehört zu den größten Befürwortern der schottischen Unabhängigkeit am X“

>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.

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.

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 is propaganda.

I’m not saying that is good or bad but people should be aware that is what this is.

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.

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.

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

Can’t spell “Iran Rub” without “IRN BRU”.

Think about it.

And Scotland is the biggest Hamas/Hezbollah Apologist on X