British authorities are examining alleged Iranian-linked bot networks accused of amplifying pro-independence content on social media platform X, after a report by The Times said dozens of accounts posing as Scottish nationalists fell silent following internet shutdowns in Iran.
According to the newspaper, several X accounts that regularly criticised the British monarchy, attacked Westminster politicians and promoted Scottish independence stopped posting in early January after Iran reportedly restricted access to the internet amid domestic unrest.
The report said cybersecurity researchers and MPs believe the accounts formed part of a wider network of alleged Iranian bots seeking to influence political discourse in the UK.
The Times cited analysis by Israeli cybersecurity firm Cyabra, which claimed a network of more than 1,300 fake profiles linked to Iran went inactive following Israeli strikes on Iran in June 2025, after previously generating millions of interactions on content related to Scottish independence, Brexit and alleged BBC bias.
In November, X introduced a feature revealing account locations, which reportedly exposed Iranian links behind several accounts presenting themselves as Scottish independence supporters.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the UK parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, told the House of Commons this week: "Either there are a lot of Scottish nationalists in Iran, which I suspect there are not, or there was a deliberate attempt to undermine our democracy and stir mischief."
Thornberry has summoned executives from X, TikTok and Meta to appear before the committee, saying the companies have "questions to answer over their inadequate response to the spread of disinformation".
She warned that social media firms could face investigation by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act if found to be failing to address foreign interference as defined by the National Security Act 2023.
The UK government has also expanded an existing investigation into foreign interference in British politics to include alleged Iranian activity linked to Scottish independence campaigning.
The inquiry follows the jailing of former Reform UK Wales leader Nathan Gill for accepting Russian bribes and will be led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft.
However, critics of the framing of the issue argue that online interference claims sit alongside a longer-standing constitutional dispute over Scotland’s democratic rights.
Support for Scottish independence has remained broadly stable for years, with recent opinion polls showing the country almost evenly divided. Some surveys place support at around 49 percent in favour of independence and 51 percent against, within the margin of error, while others have independence leading by 50 percent to 44.
At the same time, polling for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election indicates that the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) continues to lead its unionist rivals, despite fluctuations in referendum support. Recent surveys suggest the SNP remains the largest party in Scotland and is on course to outperform Labour and Conservative competitors.
While pro-independence parties have argued that repeated electoral victories amount to a democratic mandate for another referendum, the UK government has refused to grant consent. In 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament does not have the legal authority to hold an independence referendum without Westminster’s approval, even if the vote were non-binding.
That ruling confirmed that any future referendum depends on the UK government’s agreement, leaving Scotland without a unilateral mechanism to resolve the independence question through a popular democratic vote.
This is not the first time the Scottish independence movement has been linked to alleged Iranian influence. In 2025, the SNP's External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson rejected claims after reports suggested anonymous pro-independence accounts on X had ties to an Iranian bot network.
Responding to a question from Conservative and Unionist MSP Murdo Fraser, Robertson warned against what he described as attempts to "smear people in this country who believe that this country should be a sovereign state", adding that support for independence was "a position held by the majority of people elected to this parliament".
Researchers cited by The Times said alleged Iranian activity on X formed part of a broader strategy of low-cost influence operations. Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University who has studied foreign disinformation campaigns, said such efforts were “cheap from the perspective of a nation-state” and carried little apparent risk of repercussions.
Social media transparency has also declined in recent years, according to academics. Dr Marco Bastos of City, University of London, told The Times that data access for researchers worsened significantly after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, now X, making it harder to identify and study coordinated foreign influence operations.
The social media companies involved have not publicly commented on the specific allegations outlined in the report.