EU targets Iran’s Revolutionary Guard propaganda ecosystem in an online crackdown – Investigators identified 14 200 links tied to IRGC activity | Europol
www.europol.europa.eu
A total of 14 200 posts linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), now designated as a terrorist organisation by the European Union (EU), have been targeted in a coordinated action against terrorist content online.

Summary of findings:
Findings:

  • Europol identified 14,200 posts, accounts, and links tied to the IRGC and targeted them in a coordinated crackdown on terrorist content online.
  • The operation was led by Europol’s EU Internet Referral Unit and involved law enforcement from 19 countries, running from February 13 to April 28.
  • The network spread content in Arabic, English, French, Persian, Spanish, and Bahasa Indonesia, across mainstream social media, streaming services, blogs, and independent websites.
  • The material included AI-generated videos glorifying the IRGC and calls for revenge tied to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
  • Investigators also found content from the IRGC’s proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
  • The IRGC’s main account on X, which had more than 150,000 followers, was withheld in the EU as a result of the operation.
  • Europol found the IRGC relied on hosting providers spread across multiple countries, including Russia and the US, to keep its sites running, and used cryptocurrency to finance the network and dodge sanctions.
  • This crackdown was only possible because the EU formally designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in February 2026.