Table 2: Observed Strategies, Tools and Techniques of Social Media Manipulation in Iran
Account Types Messaging and Valence
Content
and Platforms
Communication
Strategies
Fake, Human,
Automated,
Impersonation
Pro-Government, Attacking
Opposition, Suppressing
Speech, Polarising messages
Attacking government
Creation of Disinformation, Facebook, Twitter,
Amplifying authentic and
Instagram,
inauthentic content,
Telegram, Google
Impersonating journalists,
trolling
Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found.
Organizational Capacity and Resources
Iran’s disinformation efforts initially developed to manipulate domestic political conversations,
before gradually expanding to include more languages, themes, and targets (Timberg & Romm,
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