Iran tries to spark boycott of US products in the West
THE IRANIAN regime is using sophisticated digital techniques to attempt to spark a public boycott of American products, the JC can disclose.
Numerous websites, which we forensically traced to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have been set up in a coordinated attempt to damage Apple, Pepsi and other corporations.
These are supported by social media activity, amplified by armies of automated accounts known as ‘botnets’.
It comes as the negotiations between Tehran and Western powers continue, with the Biden administration aiming to reheat Barack Obama’s nuclear deal.
Last week, a JC investigation revealed Iran’s astonishing online propaganda war designed to destabilise the West.
Now we can confirm that another of Tehran’s goals is to instigate a boycott of American products.
The project — named Boycott US Products (BUP) — is designed as an equivalent to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Launched in May 2019, the BUP campaign remained low-key until earlier this year when Press TV, Iran’s state-owned broadcaster, began pushing it.
Iran’s ‘botnet’ operation swung into action, attempting to create a buzz.
Tehran’s campaign targetes products such as Oreos, Fanta and iPhones.
David Patrikarakos, author of Nuclear Iran, said: “The economic effects of the anti-US boycott campaign are likely to be negligible but the strategy is significant as a propaganda tool.
“It is about filling online spaces with pro-Iran sentiments, seeding these ideas on social media and getting them to take root in the West. It may not stop people eating Oreos en masse, but that’s not the point. There is a constituency that will lap up this stuff: the anti-imperialist hard Left. It gives activists and sympathisers talking points and ammunition to throw into the online space, to gradually change hearts and minds.” He added: “It’s one more narrative to fill online spaces.”