A new investigation by Cyabra has linked thousands of social media posts on Scottish independence and Brexit to an Iranian state-backed influence campaign.
According to the report, “26% of profiles discussing Scottish independence were fake, posting more than 3,000 posts in just six weeks.” These accounts, the researchers said, blended into online debates by pushing pro-independence and anti-Brexit messages, while targeting institutions like the BBC and Labour Party with accusations of bias.
Download and read Cyabra’s full report.
The report described the operation as “a disinformation campaign hidden in plain sight”. Cyabra found the network relied on AI-generated profile images, Scottish slang, and emotionally loaded slogans such as “Another very good reason for #ScottishIndependence” and “Brexit betrayal”. Hashtags including #ScottishIndependenceASAP, #BBCLies, and #LabourLies were pushed repeatedly across multiple accounts, which also engaged with each other to create the appearance of consensus.
Cyabra calculated that the coordinated effort “generated over 224 million potential views and more than 126,000 user engagements.”
The bot network’s cover was blown in June by our reporting when, after a strike on Iran’s power grid, hundreds of fake accounts abruptly went silent. “All at once, the fake profiles stopped posting. For more than two weeks, they vanished – no posts, no noise, just digital silence,” the report noted. When they returned 16 days later, their focus had shifted to defending Iran and mocking the West.
This pivot reinforced suspicions of state control. As the report put it: “This coordinated blackout – followed by a synchronized return and sudden messaging shift – left little room for doubt. It was clear: this was a state-controlled operation caught mid-glitch.”
The second phase of the campaign emphasised Iran’s resistance to U.S. and European pressure, contrasting what it portrayed as Iran’s “moral clarity” with Western “hypocrisy.” Fake accounts even drew parallels between Scotland’s independence movement and Iran’s confrontation with the West.
Cyabra argued that the wider intent was clear: “They seed division, amplify existing tensions, and hijack political discourse – and they do all of this while maintaining a credible, authentic-looking image.”
The group concluded that while the immediate goal was to legitimise Iran’s foreign policy stance, “the major goal in those long-game influence operations is always the same – to divide Western societies, discredit democratic institutions, and manipulate public perception by creating a distorted reality.”
Editor’s Note – This article does not claim that Scottish independence is a foreign plot, nor does it suggest that support for independence is illegitimate, inauthentic, or driven by anything other than sincere political conviction. The focus is not on genuine activists or grassroots communities, but on documented attempts by Iranian-linked actors to exploit real political movements in the UK for strategic advantage.
Importantly, the article does not equate support for independence with foreign manipulation. Rather, it highlights how state actors — in this case, Iran — often mimic the language and cultural markers of existing political groups in order to infiltrate and distort online debate. This includes crafting fake personas aligned with left-wing or anti-imperialist sentiment, not to persuade, but to amplify and launder their own narratives through credible channels. All claims made are supported. Readers are encouraged to engage with the primary sources linked throughout the article.
