EXCLUSIVE Inside Iran's troll factory targeting Britain: How 1,300 accounts flooded X with thousands of posts in six-week onslaught to try and destabilise the country

Daily Mail​

a day ago

A vast Iranian propaganda factory which allegedly 'hijacked' social media in a 'coordinated' effort to manipulate millions of Britons can today be exposed.
More than 1,300 fake accounts flooded X with thousands of posts during a six-week onslaught to try and 'destabilise' the UK and push pro-Iranian propaganda.
It's believed a Tehran-backed bot network - aided by Russia - was behind the social media disinformation assault, which used AI to create and run bogus profiles.
Cyber soldiers ruthlessly targeted every 'pressure point' in British politics seeking to divide the UK, by hijacking debates on Scottish independence and Brexit with inflammatory posts.
The digital barrage also allegedly saw bots trying to discredit the British media and erode trust in the government, with AI-generated personas leading the charge.
Beginning in May, the entire network then went silent in June, shortly after Iran's military strike against Israel, The blackout coincided with Iran's national communication shutdown.
When the lights came back on 16 days later, so did the fake network, as it sought to champion the tyrannical Iranian regime and frame it as a 'moral superpower' against the West - with some sharing sickening anti-semitic posts depicting Israelis as rats.
The co-ordinated disinformation campaign was exposed by digital campaign group Cyabra, and is thought to be one of the largest of its kind officially unveiled, having reached an estimated 224million people over 3,000 posts.
Dan Brahmy, chief executive of Cyabra, told MailOnline: 'While the blackout cut Iran 's internet and power, it lit up what they were hiding from the rest of the world, exposing their playbook.
'AI-generated fake personas, designed to pass as real users, had been blending into public conversations.
'When Iran came back online, so did the bots, but this time, they were pushing pro-Iran propaganda and mocking the West. We watched a state-run influence op misfire in real time.'
It comes as military chiefs today warned the alleged bot factory may indicate Iran and Russia - a known expert in disinformation tactics - have been working together.
'The threat is huge,' warned Colonel Philip Ingram, a former officer in British military intelligence. 'I believe Russia has coordinated a lot of this.
'It's something more than a strong tangible link – Russia and Iran are working together.
'This could then indicate Russia was heavily involved in Iran's planning with Hezbollah and Hamas, and would suggest Russia might be involved in Hamas's attack into Israel.'
While former British commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said: 'This to me is the classic Russian disinformation propaganda we're very well aware of.
'Iran has obviously been taught this by the Russians, who are adept at it.'
Several people were injured after Tehran launched a barrage of missiles at Tel Aviv in revenge for attacks on its nuclear sites
The huge troll network targeted Western audiences and the Scottish online community.
Fake accounts 'systematically promoted a blend of pro-Scottish independence, anti-Brexit, and pro-Iranian narratives' to create politically-charged debates that sought to sow division within the UK, Cyabra said.
In the company's investigation into the alleged cyber takeover, some 5,083 profiles engaged in promoting pro-Scottish independence debates were analysed - with 26 per cent found to be fake, 'substantially higher than platform norms', it said.
The bogus accounts worked 'in co-ordination' by systematically deploying identical hashtags, messages and themes to 'manufacture consensus, fuel division, and weaken public trust in UK institutions'.
Its first strike saw fake profiles trying to frame the UK as 'a force of oppression from which Scotland must break free' and that independence was an inevitability.
Posts reinforced the idea that independence is not only justified but long overdue, while co-ordinated phrasing such as 'another very good reason for #ScottishIndepence' was deployed by the bots.
In its second phase, the alleged propaganda factory tried to use Brexit as a 'catalyst for separation', depicting it as a 'decision imposed on Scotland' and a 'betrayal' of the British public, with hashtags '#BetterTogetherLied and #BrexitBetrayal.
The fake posts duped real Britons into joining in the debate, who unknowingly helped its reach and engagement online to spread like wildfire.
Iranian bots also took aim at the British media and Government by deliberately spreading misinformation to 'erode the credibility of two central pillars of British public life', Cyabra said.
However, following Israel's military strike against Iran on June 13, Cyabra said it identified a 'suspicious pattern' of numerous previously active accounts going silent.
The unexpected blackout coincided with the internet blackout that plunged Iran into chaos.
Days later and the alleged troll factory sprung back into action after internet connection was restored in Iran.
Many posts framed Iran as a 'strong, moral actor standing up to the United States and Israel', while portraying its military responses as 'justified acts of defence'.
Other accounts sought to legitimise Iran's missile bombardment of Israel and 'criticise Western double standards' - while other posts mocked the US by saying it had 'begged for a ceasefire after failing to defeat Iran', Cyabra's report said.
Jill Burkes, Cyabra's head of communications, added the 16-day silence had exposed the alleged Iranian bot network's operation.
'They didn't go quiet on purpose, the power cut them off. And that unexpected disruption exposed everything,' she added.
'When the bots came back, they were pushing a completely new narrative: praising Iran's strength, mocking the West, and amplifying regime propaganda.
'That silence, followed by a sudden coordinated messaging shift, is what confirmed attribution. Same fake personas, same behavior patterns, just a different mission.'
Among the accounts allegedly central to the disinformation campaign was @lucy9760.
Between May 11 and June 12, the account was highly active publishing huge swathes of content supporting Scottish independence in posts 'aimed to amplify division'.
Between June 13 and June 28, the account went dark, ceasing all activity. The timescale aligned with the Israel-Iran war and were seemingly replicated by other alleged bots in the network.
Then, from June 29, the profile resumed, promoting pro-Iranian narratives.
The investigation found that 1,322 fake accounts posted a staggering 3,092 piece of content between May 11 and June 28 as part of a 'deliberate large-scale operation'.
Content generated by disinformation onslaught accumulated almost 127,000 engagements - made up of likes, comments, and shares - significantly boosting its visibility across X.
As a result, manipulated messaging achieved a reach of more than 224million views, increasing the likelihood of shaping real users' opinions.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said the operation showed that Britons needed to be aware of the threats posed by hoovering up information from social media.
'Russians and Iranians want to try and destabilise our society - that's the way autocratic societies operate,' he warned.
'If you say something often enough people start to believe it however ridiculous. It's a fact of life.
'But it's also a fact that we shouldn't be passive. We shouldn't just let it go on. We should try and identify people and make sure the correct narrative - not the gibberish spouted by Moscow and Tehran - comes to light.'
The news came after experts at a British defence think-tank warned Vladimir Putin's shadowy cyberspace army is 'weaponising' artificial intelligence to spread disinformation online and confuse Britons into siding with the Kremlin.
The new technology is 'already in use' and ' blurring the lines' between fact and fiction, researchers at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) worryingly claimed.
Experts from the London-based group say Russia-linked groups - including 'hacktivist collectives' and pro-Kremlin influencers - have already been mobilised.
Using so-called 'generative AI', the groups are working to seed disinformation about Russian activity on an industrial scale, using custom-built automated propaganda to 'sow discord' across the West.
Speaking of the dangers posed by AI, a Government spokesman previously told MailOnline: 'We are acutely aware of the serious risks posed by hostile actors exploiting generative AI to spread mis- and disinformation to divide communities and undermine our democracy. We are taking firm and decisive action to face down that threat and strengthen the UK's resilience.'