Hashtag activism and its enemies: a discursive analysis of suppressing #MahsaAmini on Persian Twitter

This paper examines how the Iranian regime’s online supporters sought to manipulate and suppress the #MahsaAmini movement on Iranian Twitter. Whereas prior work emphasizes the emancipatory potential of hashtag activism, less is known about the discursive and rhetorical tactics authoritarian actors use to undermine such mobilization. Drawing on critical discourse and rhetorical studies, we analyse 6,170 tweets posted by 1,388 influential pro-regime accounts during the movement’s first two months (15 September–15 November 2022). We find that incivility was the dominant strategy for disrupting the movement, followed by disinformation/conspiracy narratives and propaganda. These tactics were reinforced through stigmatizing metaphors (e.g. ‘whore’, ‘ISIS/Daesh’) and other delegitimizing labels aimed at discrediting dissidents. Pro-regime accounts also relied on emotional appeals, especially fear and pity, to naturalize false claims. We argue that these moves enact coordinated boundary work that systematically delegitimizes protest narratives and reasserts regime authority online. The study clarifies mechanisms of repression under theocracy.