The International Union of Virtual Media (IUVM) is a prolific operator that creates web-based content that amplifies pro-government narratives, which is then posted across social media account posing as independent news outlets or journalists. Content includes video reports, news articles, and memes that are propagated across multiple IUVM-branded websites and covertly managed social media accounts. Graphika’s investigation noted that the operation is “significant and manned by a well-resourced and persistent actor, but its effectiveness should not be overstated” (Nimmo, Francois, et al., 2020). Disinformation In an operation dubbed ‘Endless Mayfly’, an Iranian actor was involved in ‘ephemeral disinformation’ according to a May 2019 report by Citizen Lab. The Iranian-aligned network of websites and online personas was used to spread false and divisive information targeting Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel. They discovered 135 articles, seventy-two domains and eleven personas that have been active since early 2016. The authors classified this as ‘ephemeral disinformation’ as the actor deleted content and redirected users to make attribution more difficult (Lim et al., 2019). Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, a US State Department report from their Global Engagement Center warned that Iran had been leveraging coronavirus to launch propaganda and disinformation targeting the US (Swan, 2020). Likewise, Graphika found evidence that an Iranian influence actor had responded to coronavirus by “shifting its messaging to blame the United States and praise the role of China”. An example of this propaganda can be seen in Figure 2 (Nimmo, Francois, et al., 2020). 197