Iran's Social Media Strategy Shifts to Information Warfare
In response to military attacks by the United States and Israel, Iran has radically overhauled its social media strategy, launching an all-out information war. Cyber experts report that Iranian foreign influence operations have escalated as part of an asymmetric campaign designed to complement military retaliation and intensify moral pressure on the US and Israel to curtail their war efforts.
Targeted Social Media Campaigns
This strategy involves flooding platforms such as X, Instagram, and Bluesky with targeted postings aimed at exploiting the war's unpopularity in the US, including among supporters of Donald Trump. Previous multi-pronged communications focused on causes like Scottish independence and Irish unification have been abandoned in favor of a single-issue message. This includes AI-generated videos and memes mocking Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister.
Some AI-generated footage has faked successful strikes on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, bomb damage on buildings in Tel Aviv, and Israeli soldiers crying in fear over Iranian retaliation. The campaign has been effective enough to draw complaints from Trump, who accused Iran of using AI as a disinformation weapon.
Domestic Internet Restrictions and Intimidation
Concurrently, the Iranian regime has imposed a near-total internet blackout within Iran, threatening punishments for anyone using satellite internet connections like Starlink. Government agents have also reportedly tried to intimidate Iranians living abroad against posting online messages against the regime or in favor of the US-Israeli war effort. Expatriate Iranians report receiving phone calls or online warnings that their citizenship will be revoked or family members in Iran harmed unless they stop posting.
Asymmetric Warfare and Strategic Focus
Analysts believe the cyber effort has become a central component of the regime's survival strategy, alongside military retaliation and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, stated, "It's absolutely asymmetric warfare. The use of artificial intelligence is impressive, and it's at a rate that I don't think anybody's seen before to the same extent or in the same way." He added that Iran has been preparing for this conflict for almost 50 years, understanding the media ecosystem thoroughly.
A Clemson study found that Iranian social media efforts, previously aimed at exploiting political discord in the UK and US, were immediately redirected after American-Israeli military strikes began on 28 February. Troll accounts once focused on Scottish or Irish politics, or criticizing Keir Starmer or the Royal family, instead denounced the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a lethal strike on a school in Minab that killed up to 175 people, mostly schoolgirls.
Exploiting Political Fault Lines
These accounts have since been suspended and replaced by content from Iranian proxies and embassies, which experts say is sometimes so effective it is re-posted numerous times, amplifying popular misgivings over the war. Linvill noted, "All their normal operations have been completely upended in order to focus on the war. They are very focused on the existential threat that is the ongoing war with Israel and the United States."
A key goal appears to be harnessing criticism of the war among Trump's disenchanted Maga allies. Press TV, Iran's state television English-language channel, posted clips from Tucker Carlson's interview with Joe Kent, who resigned as Trump's counterterrorism adviser, within an hour on Thursday. Alex Goldenberg, an expert on online threats, explained, "A core part of the Iranian information model is identifying fault lines in American political debate and amplifying them. Iran doesn't need to create that content. It simply presents itself."
