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The Tel Aviv–based firm argues that the campaign demonstrates how online influence operations are closely tied to geopolitical conflicts.
By Shula Rosen
A Tel Aviv disinformation-tracking company says the recent Israel–Iran war temporarily shut down an Iranian bot network that was trying to sway online debate over Scottish independence.
Cyabra, which specializes in detecting coordinated online manipulation, reported that the state-backed campaign fell silent for more than two weeks after fighting broke out on June 13.
When the network reappeared, its content had shifted to praising Iran’s military strength and mocking Western governments—an abrupt change that investigators say confirmed state-directed orchestration.
According to Cyabra’s findings, 26 percent of the accounts involved in discussions about Scottish independence on X (formerly Twitter) were fake.
These accounts generated more than 3,000 posts designed to look like authentic grassroots messaging.
The content blended pro-independence arguments with anti-Brexit and anti-UK institutional sentiment, amplifying divisions while promoting narratives favorable to Tehran.
“The sudden disruption to Iran’s influence operations capabilities due to their war with Israel exposed the entire operation,” said Dan Brahmy, Cyabra’s chief executive said in a press release. “When Iran paused, so did the bots, revealing the strategy, the propaganda, and the 224 million views their fake campaign had already amassed.”
Cyabra’s analysis showed that the network deployed AI-generated personas, recycled text and images, and heavily used hashtags such as #ScottishIndependence, #FreeScotland, and #BrexitBetrayal.
While the content originated from fake accounts, genuine users often reposted or commented on it, unintentionally boosting its reach and making it more difficult to distinguish between real debate and engineered propaganda.
The Tel Aviv–based firm argues that the campaign demonstrates how online influence operations are closely tied to geopolitical conflicts.
By linking the pause in activity to the outbreak of fighting with Israel, analysts say they were able to clearly attribute responsibility to Tehran.
Cyabra, which works with governments and corporations to counter disinformation, has also announced a merger with Trailblazer Merger Corporation I, a US-listed entity, in order to expand its reach worldwide.
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