Russia, Iran Using Fake MAGA Accounts to Undermine Trump and Spread Chaos, Report Finds

Russia and Iran are orchestrating a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging the MAGA movement and spreading internal division, according to an investigation published Thursday and shared with the New York Post.

Both regimes are deploying tens of thousands of fake social media accounts to impersonate MAGA supporters and sow distrust in conservative spaces, the report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found.

These bots are automated accounts designed to behave like real users online.

The bots boost actual influencers who promote false narratives that attack Trump and other conservatives, NCRI, a nonpartisan group that tracks extremism online, says.

“If you talk to Republicans right now, more than 80 percent of them support the war against Iran. But if you go on Twitter you get the sense that there is a civil war raging.”

This digital manipulation is meant to shake people’s trust in institutions and create confusion, an NCRI analyst explained.

Bots make fringe posts appear more popular than they are, persuading real users that the views they’re seeing are widespread.

They often use generic names and photos to appear like everyday Americans.

NCRI flagged a troubling pattern where, following major domestic incidents, including the Uvalde shooting, an attempt on Trump’s life, and the killing of two Israeli embassy workers, “false flag” theories quickly flood social media.

“Within minutes of initial reports [the events are recast] as evidence of hidden conspiratorial plots, obscuring the true motives and perpetrators.”

According to NCRI, Kremlin and Iranian-linked media are exploiting these events, with fake MAGA accounts echoing their narratives to conservative audiences.

One key figure is Draven Noctis, a U.S. veteran and contributor to Russian media, who has over 180,000 followers and a reach of 2.4 million. He promotes content framing America as a “slave system.”

In 2024, Noctis appeared on Kremlin-linked media urging Ukrainian troops to defect. The bots then circulated that clip widely online.

Another influencer, Jackson Hinkle, spreads pro-Kremlin content to his more than three million followers, often reinforcing anti-Western conspiracy theories.

NCRI highlighted how false flag stories about the May embassy shooting falsely claimed the attacker was an Israeli agent—a claim widely pushed by bots and fringe accounts.

“Foreign-linked seeders, such as Noctis, inject crisis narratives within minutes of breaking news… Domestic personalities with large but unstable followings… supply a veneer of grassroots legitimacy.”

Between May 1 and June 10, there were 675,000 posts on X about “false flags,” drawing nearly four million engagements. Spikes coincided with two major incidents.

One example: “Red Pill Media,” which claims to be U.S.-based but was found to be run by someone in Karachi, Pakistan, spread anti-Israel content to tens of thousands of followers.

“False-flag allegations occupy a privileged corner of Russian hybrid-warfare doctrine: a ready-made, easily adaptable alibi that flips blame, muddies attribution, and buys time for diplomatic misdirection.”

The Kremlin is also using this bot network to target Trump directly, the report states.

“It’s a combination of an artificial voice with a real voice,” said an NCRI analyst. “It destroyed the Democratic party and now they are going after MAGA.”

NCRI warns that these operations now aim to discredit Trump by posing as his allies while accusing him of crimes and spreading hostile Iranian state leaks.

“The network’s goals extend beyond crisis exploitation… the same actors pivoted to accuse Donald Trump of [perversion] and to disseminate Iranian state leaks portraying IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as an Israeli proxy.”