A new academic study has identified dozens of social media accounts tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that researchers say are being used to push anti-U.S. and anti-Israel messaging online during the ongoing war between Iran and the United States.

The report, released Wednesday by researchers at Clemson University, found at least 62 accounts across multiple social media platforms that appear connected to the IRGC despite presenting themselves as users based in Western countries.

According to the study, the accounts operated on X, Instagram, and Bluesky and often claimed to be located in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, or Ireland.

“All these accounts systematically amplify politically divisive content and disinformation aligned with IRGC narratives,” the report stated. “They are designed to exploit regional fault lines to advance Iranian regime interests.”

Most of the accounts identified in the report were created within the past year, though some date back to December 2023, suggesting the network may have been established well before the current conflict erupted.

Before the war began, the accounts primarily posted content focused on contentious domestic political issues, researchers found.

But after Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes against Iranian targets, the accounts sharply shifted their messaging, pushing narratives supportive of Tehran while criticizing Washington and Jerusalem.

The report described the activity as a “coordinated inauthentic social-media campaign” intended to shape public discussion surrounding the war.

Researchers also identified the use of AI-generated images and manipulated videos circulating through the network that appeared to misrepresent developments in the conflict.

The Clemson team said the scale of the activity suggests the potential to influence large online audiences.

According to the study, 47 of the accounts operated on X alone, producing more than 59,000 original posts that were subsequently shared and reposted thousands of times by other users.

Researchers said those posts generated organic engagement from followers that could have amplified the content to millions of viewers.

The report also identified nine accounts on Instagram and five on Bluesky connected to the network.

Social media companies said they have begun responding to the findings.

Bluesky confirmed that all accounts named in the report had been removed for violating the platform’s community guidelines.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, said the company prohibits coordinated inauthentic behavior and content tied to terrorist organizations.

“Meta prohibits coordinated inauthentic behavior and individuals and organizations tied to terrorism,” the spokesperson said. “We remove violating accounts once we become aware of them.”

The company added that about one-third of the Instagram accounts listed in the report were not active during the war, while the remaining accounts collectively had fewer than 2,000 followers.

Researchers cautioned that the broader challenge of foreign influence operations is likely to intensify during periods of geopolitical crisis.

“It will be important to continue to monitor communities found to be at particular risk of foreign influence to mitigate potential harms to authentic discourse,” the report concluded.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)