SNP ministers warned Iranian state pro-independence disinformation campaign is ‘significant issue’

New research suggests more than 1,300 X accounts posting pro-Scottish independence content in recent months were actually part of an Iranian state-backed disinformation campaign.

A number of these accounts fell silent during the blackout in Iran after Israeli airstrikes back in June, before they re-emerged posting both pro-Scottish independence and pro-Tehran content.

Israeli-based artificial intelligence company Cyabra analysed posts from 5,083 X profiles and found 1,332 were “fake” - around 26 per cent. A report by the company said these accounts “systematically promoted a blend of pro-Scottish independence, anti-Brexit and pro-Iranian narratives” and used AI-generated content, repurposed materials and popular hashtags and keywords to “enhance credibility”.

It is estimated this “generated over 224 million potential views and more than 126,000 user engagements”.

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Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser in June quizzed SNP External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson on whether the Scottish Government was concerned “its central policy objective is being actively backed by the terrorist state of Iran as part of its campaign to weaken this United Kingdom”.

Mr Robertson rejected this and warned against “seeking to smear people in this country who believe that this country should be a sovereign state”.

Now Mr Fraser says Scottish ministers need to be more pro-active in reporting bad actors on social media to help detect state-backed disinformation.

Speaking to The Scotsman, he said: “I asked Angus Robertson about this and he very much swatted me away from asking the question.

“The Scottish Government needs to recognise there is an issue here. It is not something they can do anything about, they can’t stop Iranian bots from amplifying pro-independence messages. But they need to recognise this is a significant issue for the pro-independence movement and that there are bad actors trying to capitalise on it.

“If the Scottish Government was prepared to be more active in appealing to social media platforms to get these obvious bad accounts suspended or removed, that would give them more weight than individuals reporting.”

Hundreds of these accounts fell silent on June 13 during the nationwide blackout in Iran, which the UK Defence Journal says was the moment suspicions about these accounts emerged.

Many of these accounts vanished during the blackout, but some resumed 16 days later with pro-Iranian posts and attacks on the west. After a few days, the accounts returned to posting exclusively pro-Scottish independence and anti-Brexit content.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “People should be alert to the risk of misinformation and disinformation online and report any instances using social media platforms’ reporting tools, in line with online safety regulator Ofcom’s advice.

“To help make informed decisions, it is important that people scrutinise information available online and consult reliable resources.”