Iran International
Iran's foreign minister faced criticism this week for accusing Israel of paying social media users to advance its agenda, after his intervention into an online spat on Mideast influence operations led to scrutiny of Iran's own social media maneuvers.
At the heart of the spat were comments by CNN commentator Van Jones on the Real Time with Bill Maher show in which he said public outrage over images of dead children in Gaza had been fueled by Iranian and Qatari disinformation campaigns.
Criticized online, he swiftly apologized for his “flat-out insensitive” remarks.
His detractors accused him of echoing Israeli narratives that deflect from the civilian toll of Israel’s war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of children have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities and UN estimates.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi then weighed in on X, citing Jones's apology and asserting that Israel, unlike Iran, pays people to spread lies online.
His comments reignited scrutiny of a government long accused of censorship, manipulation, and repression.
Araghchi’s response — portraying Iran as a truth-teller — drew swift criticism from dissidents. Iran routinely shuts down the internet during protests, censors independent media, and runs cyber units that promote state messaging and harass dissidents.
“Iran’s first target is its own citizens,” said Siamak Aram, president of the National Solidarity Group for Iran (NSGIran), in an interview with Iran International. “It doesn’t stop at propaganda or misinformation; it doesn’t just pay its cyber army — it coerces, threatens, and even kills those who refuse to echo its narrative.”
One of the most high-profile examples of this repression is rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was imprisoned and reportedly tortured after using his music and social media to denounce government violence and support the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.
A report by the Israel Internet Association (IIA) last week found that the majority of disinformation circulated across global digital platforms during the Israel-Iran war in June served Iran's narrative. It was not clear how much was directed by Tehran.
Political activist Iman Vaez told Iran International: “It’s always ironic when those who scream the loudest about ‘paid lies’ are the same ones running massive online propaganda networks pretending it’s all just patriotism, not payroll.”
Laurence Norman, Brussels correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, pilloried Araghchi's on X.
Sharing a New York Post report based on an Israeli government–commissioned study that alleged Iranian bots posted more than 240,000 times to block US strikes on nuclear sites, he wrote: “No never,” before adding, “How about allowing Iranians free access to social media, whilst we’re on it” — a pointed jab at Iran’s tight control over domestic access to information online.
While Tehran denies such operations, Western governments have repeatedly accused it of malign cyber activity.
In September, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism condemned Iran’s transnational repression and cyberattacks targeting journalists and diaspora activists.
Israel's role in digital manipulation is also well documented. In 2024, Global Affairs Canada said it had corroborated “elements” of an Israeli-linked misinformation campaign targeting Canadian politicians and citizens over Gaza.
The department confirmed it raised concerns directly with the Israeli government after its Rapid Response Mechanism detected a coordinated network of inauthentic accounts spreading divisive and Islamophobic content.
Reporting by Haaretz and The New York Times went further, revealing that Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs had funded a $2 million social-media operation to influence North American lawmakers and shape public opinion in favor of its war in Gaza.
Analyst Marcus Kolga, founder and director of DisinfoWatch and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told Iran International that covert influence networks have become a central weapon for authoritarian governments.
“Iran has a long and well-established record of conducting influence operations in Western countries,” he said. “Like Russia and China, Tehran exploits sympathetic or opportunistic foreign influencers to legitimize its narratives and shape public opinion," said Kolga.
Kolga emphasized that legitimate public diplomacy differs sharply from covert propaganda. “Registered influence campaigns are lawful when they comply with disclosure rules,” he said. “Covert operations using fake personas and hidden funding should be regarded as malign — regardless of who is behind them.”
From Tehran to Tel Aviv to Doha, governments are waging an information war that extends far beyond the battlefield.
