The war in Iran is not only being fought on the battlefield, it is also playing out online.
Iran’s state media recently took a leaf about of the White House's own social media playbook: mocking Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu with an AI-generated propaganda ideo styled like a LEGO animation. The clip suggested that Trump launched the conflict to distract from scrutiny surrounding his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The video quickly circulated online, highlighting how artificial intelligence is being used as a tool of political messaging and satire in modern conflicts.
Tehran's video appears to be a direct response to the White House’s own aggressive digital strategy that uses AI and memes to attack his opponents. In recent weeks, Washington's official accounts have pumped out a stream of viral content about US military action in Iran - splicing real missile strike footage with memes, pop culture references and video-game imagery - in an effort to win the narrative battle online and flex its technological military might.
As governments increasingly turn to shareable content to influence public opinion, distinguishing fact from manipulation becomes more challenging.
In this edition of Truth or Fake, Vedika Bahl analyses how information warfare is unfolding across social platforms and examines the line between messaging, misinformation and digital propaganda in the Middle East war.
English (US) · 