Iranian bots behind thousands of Scottish independence posts

New research has uncovered an Iranian bot network targeting social media discourse around Scottish independence. 

The study suggests more than 1,300 X users posting pro-independence content these past months were actually Iranian-backed bots. 

The investigation, carried out by disinformation firm Cyabra, analysed conversations on the social media app – formerly known as Twitter – between May and June 2025, and found over a quarter of the more than 5,000 pro-independence users it examined were fake. 

The accounts promoted a blend of pro-Scottish independence, anti-Brexit, and pro-Iranian narratives.  

They employed AI-generated content, repurposed material and popular hashtags such as #FreeScotland to make their posts more credible. The coordinated and interactive nature of the campaign is evidence that the campaign was likely “centrally managed and strategically executed”, the report said. 

According to the Israel-based disinformation firm the campaign had more than 224 million views and generated over 126,000 user engagements. 

A number of the profiles ceased to operate after an Iran-wide blackout in June, following the Israeli airstrikes on the country. However, some resumed posting several days after promoting a pro-Iranian narrative, Cyabra said. 

“This campaign demonstrates the ability of coordinated fake networks to hijack public discourse at scale”, the report concluded.  

It continued: “By embedding disinformation into legitimate narratives, the operation blurred the line between truth and manipulation, exploiting political sensitivities and platform algorithms alike. Ultimately, these findings underscore the increasing sophistication of state-aligned influence campaigns and the growing threat posed by cross-domain operations that weaponize local divisions in service of foreign agendas.” 

The research comes after external affairs secretary Angus Robertson rejected concerns that the independence movement was being backed by Iran. Instead, he warned against “seeking to smear people in this country who believe that this country should be a sovereign state”. 

Now, Tory MSP Murdo Fraser has urged ministers to do more to detect bad actors.  Speaking to The Scotsman, Fraser 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.”