Certain pro-Scottish independence accounts on X/Twitter have stopped posting since the Iranian authorities shut off internet access, leading to a belief that they were actually Iranian bots seeking to interfere in British politics, The Telegraph reported on Monday.
One such account, calling itself Fiona, and describing itself as "passionate about Scotland’s independence & our right to self-determination," posted claims including that the British pound is in "freefall," with "international markets dumping UK assets as images of tanks in Edinburgh go viral."
The account also claimed that "Protesters have seized Balmoral Estate," with protesters chanting "No more castles while people freeze." The account also claimed that they were anti-monarchists, denouncing royal imagery in Scotland.
The Jerusalem Post investigated and found that the account posing as Fiona has been suspended on X as of Tuesday morning.
Claims from other accounts linked with Iranian bot activity included that "huge tracts of the Highlands are being turned into a weapons lab," The Telegraph reported.
Another claimed that the British Army was sending tanks down Edinburgh's Royal Mile in a "coup."
Cyabra, an Israeli cybersecurity company, found that approximately 26% of the thousands of X users it scanned could be fake, according to The Telegraph.
The company also found that the same accounts that have gone silent since Tehran shut off internet access across the country also went dark during the Israel-Iran war in June.
Conservative politicians denounce Iranian bots, call on gov't. to act
Former British security minister Tom Tugendhat commented on "Fiona."
"She's either out protesting or murdering her fellow citizens. Given she's a mouthpiece for the murderers in Tehran, I guess she's killing innocents," he accused.
Stephen Kerr, a member of the devolved Scottish Parliament, posted a video to his personal X account and called on Westminster to investigate the accounts.
Standing in front of the Scottish independence figure, Robert the Bruce, he said hello to any bots from Iran.
"We all know that cybernats are the worst people on social media for peddling fake information and sowing the seeds of sectarian division," he said.
"Now we know that many of them aren't from Scotland at all, but from Iran. And we have to wonder why we Aytollahs are so keen on promoting the Scottish Nationalist Party and nationalism in Scotland?" he asked.
"Why is it that the Scottish Independence movement don't seem to care that an evil regime is infiltrating our democracy? What would he [pointing at the statue of Robert] make of it?" he concluded.
Both Tugendhat and Kerr are members of the Conservative Party.