an Iranian bot network had targeted social discourse around Scottish independence

ie a bunch of Iranians on the internet tweeted that the British suck and Scotland would be better off without them

'bot network', this is said about anyone who says anything positive of Russia or China that they're a bot, anyone who says anything bad about America in relation to Russia or China is a bot, if you criticize someone for being sinophobic or russophobic you're a bot

In regards to what Iranians are being accused of: making observations doesn't mean you're a bot, it means you believe your eyes and ears, and sometimes people will share their observations with others

Meanwhile there's definitive evidence of Israeli influence, but let's be more concerned with a bunch of Iranian twitter users and redditors

If Iran is pushing Scotland to be a more free, progressive, and internationally peaceful state…then thank you, Iran!

Hope you and an independent Scotland remain great friends.

In what universe would the Iranian state give a rat's ass about Scottish independence? They can't even rid their own society of pro-western brain worms, but somehow they've stumbled on bots as the sure fire way to dismantle the currently Great British Empire

The self-obsession of these English crackers is incredible

Sink England into the ocean.

Everything is always bAd CoUnTrY's fault in the brain of the deranged Westoid.

Putting the Acchhhh in Achameinid

All these countries can do is investigate foreign influence, then crow about how they've found (or "found") the foreign influence.

They won't actually do anything about it. The only thing they -- the United States or Britain or whomever really -- could do is address the fact that they're broadly considered untrustworthy institutions. But you can't build trust, real trust, with a PR campaign. You gotta tell people you're gonna improve their lives, and then actually act to improve their lives. It's so far beyond our ruling classes, they refuse to even acknowledge that people are justified in finding them untrustworthy.

Investigate the settlers in Scotland maybe they have some England influence

5. Fear of difference. "The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition."

7. The obsession with a plot. "Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged."

the headline says "to investigate" but the article says "could investigate" and those are different things.

Did anyone else find this hard to follow or am I getting illiterate today?

“There’s been a lot of research in recent years indicating that there was Iranian activity in relation to the constitutional future of Scotland,” Alexander said.

“When the Americans took their action that they did, we saw a significant reduction in the number of Iranian bots promoting Scottish independence on Scottish social media sites.

What does it mean?

I'd say after everything the Brits did to Iran, they've earned a bit of election interference, yeah? It's like when you gotta let the other kid punch you to even the score. You don't gotta let them decide everything that happens, and they don't get to loot all your natural resources, but surely they've at least earned a referendum or two, I mean, come on.