NCRI Staff
NCRI – The Iranian Regime is one of many countries engaging in cyber warfare, using internet trolls and disinformation to manipulate public opinion. Iran’s army of trolls are less well-funded and less effective than those of other countries, like Russia, but their influence is steadily increasing.
The Iranian cyber army can largely be split into three categories:
• Internet-patriots: They use virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass Iran’s internet blocks in order to spread the Regime’s agenda and attack critics. Supposedly, they are not paid, but it is likely that the Regime is providing another benefit or threatening them if they do not do so.
• Government-backed trolls: They receive instruction from the Regime about what to say and who to say it to. They also get paid. They have created two broad types of fake websites: one is created to spy on the Regime’s enemies and steal information, while the other exists solely to spread the fake news in English as well as the languages of neighbouring countries (Arab, Turkish, Azerbaijani etc.). They are also responsible for the creation of fake online personas that are used for espionage by either getting someone to open a virus on a work computer (for those in the security or energy fields) or to reveal information (in the case of a dissident).
• Elite Trolls: These trolls are highly educated and around 80% of them speak English. They are used for attacks on specific individuals (Iranian dissidents, human rights activists, foreign leaders). They are occasionally called as an expert on Iran through the Western media in order to push the Regime’s view and will write lengthy tomes which read well but are filled with lies.
Hand in Hand
It is also worth noting that countries engaging in cyber warfare are also the same ones who seek to impose censorship on their own populace. Iran had been doing so for years, but their censorship increased dramatically during the recent protests in order to stop the demonstrators from communicating amongst themselves or to the world at large.
Still, many Iranians have avoided the censorship by using VPNs to access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram (which the Regime leaders were using to promote the Regime’s agenda with impunity). While VPNs are legal in Iran, many have been arrested for the promotion or sale of the items.
Prior to the protests, encrypted-messaging app Telegram was not blocked in Iran, but the Regime was trying to force the company to store Iranian users’ data, in a clear violation of Telegram’s ethos in order to surveil Iranians.
The Iranian Regime has also activated all of its fake personas in the wake of the protests in order to further spy on or intimidate Iranians.
However there is a bright spot: the Iranian Regime trolls cannot win against the people.
Political analyst Ali Hajizade wrote on Al Arabiya: “Our analysis report shows that the trolls of the regime can’t keep up and in most cases they cannot reply to all posts. This shows the vulnerabilities of the State Trolling machine in Iran.”