While the US and Israel are decisively winning the military campaign against the Iranian regime, a new data analysis of viral posts on X reveals that we are catastrophically losing the information war raging across social media.
Mauro Institute analyzed more than 1,000 viral posts on X that were published during the first two weeks of Operation Epic Fury. The results reveal a dire conclusion: Our digital town square has been hijacked by the Iranian regime’s sympathizers and by the unrelenting catastrophists whom US President Trump has labeled "Panicans."
Outsiders Driving the Conversation
More than half of the viral posts on X about Iran in English originated outside the US. Even among the top 100 most influential English-language posts, nearly 40% came from outside the United States. The foreign-led discourse was overwhelmingly hostile and crafted to demoralize and divide Americans. A mere 10% of the viral posts were positive about Operation Epic Fury.
These accounts generated more than 650,000,000 views and nearly 22,000,000 interactions (reposts, likes, and replies) in the first two weeks of Operation Epic Fury, shaping the prevailing narrative.
Political commentator Glenn Beck reacts to the new findings
Divide and Conquer, Digitally
The negativity about Operation Epic Fury was integrated into two main metanarratives:
One was less alienating to President Trump’s supporters because it depicted him as duped or coerced by a Zionist conspiracy, rather than acting out of malice.
The other was a better fit for President Trump’s critics because it accused him of maliciously launching an unjustified war to boost his approval ratings and to distract from evidence that could expose him as complicit in Jeffrey Epstein’s scandals.
The cognitive warfare campaign on X targeted Americans’ perceptions from three distinct directions:
First, viral posts in English were posted by accounts based outside the US but were designed to appear as if they originated from within the US and represented American public opinion and information sources.
Second, viral posts in English were posted by accounts that were actually based in the US but that often parroted or directly quoted from the overwhelmingly negative and hostile posts that originated from outside the United States.
Finally, automatic translations of foreign posts began unexpectedly appearing in Americans’ feeds - a feature that only began appearing about nine months ago. This allowed a flood of anti-Western sentiment from the Middle East, South Asia, and countries like China and Russia to bypass the language barrier and appear on Americans’ screens without those Americans choosing to seek them out.
Consequently, anyone who relied solely on X for news during this period would have concluded that only a negligible fringe of “stubborn Zionists” was in favor of Operation Epic Fury and remained optimistic about its outcomes.
Social Media Does Not Reflect Reality
The apparent consensus on X was the opposite of reality. However, the latest poll shows that a slight majority of Americans support Operation Epic Fury. More than 75% believe the U.S. is beating Iran, and more than 60% believe the US should support regime change.
This mirage was manufactured by a relatively small number of accounts and by those well-resourced governments and organizations that were boosting them. Only ten accounts generated about one-third of all the views in our sample. These ten included the Iranian Foreign Minister’s official accounts, a Moscow-based American podcaster, Jackson Hinkle, whose “American Communist Party” supports the West’s adversaries at every opportunity, and a Lebanese commentator with undeniable sympathies for Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.
What is happening on social media is “digital colonization.”
The composition of the content and the dialogue surrounding the issues are not chosen by the readers; they are imposed upon them. They do not reflect their will, nor their interests; they reflect algorithmic warfare. The foes of the West understand that achieving information dominance on social media gives them a decisive advantage in the battle for our civil societies - a battle that is arguably even more determinative for the future than control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Ryan Mauro is the President of The Mauro Institute, a non-profit dedicated to defeating extremism and securing the future.