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Pamphlets, radio, and now Iran's AI-generated Lego videos: the new frontier of information warfare

The Conversation · back to the audit
AI-generated videos in particular have fundamentally altered how states and non-state actors wage information warfare, manipulate populations, and compete not only in the Gulf, but in a global arena. This 'synthetic media' is frequently deployed and spread to falsify footage of real-world events. But this technology also convincingly and easily creates propaganda material that is obviously fiction. The most notable example is Iran's viral Lego videos that have repeatedly — and very successfully — mocked Israel and the US throughout the war. Take Iran's Lego videos, which depict scenes such as Trump and Netanyahu using the Iran War as a pretext to distract from the Epstein files while worshipping the pagan Canaanite deity Baal. They have nothing to do with the intentions of the Danish company that makes the ubiquitous plastic brick toys, and yet they have gained enormous traction as viral meme propaganda — both in the West and around the world. Unlike Iran's Lego videos, AI deepfakes are realistic but entirely fabricated content, making it difficult for viewers to discern truth from falsehood. During the so-called '12-Day War' in 2025 in Israel and Iran, AI deepfakes and video game footage sought to replicate real combat. One widely-shared image of a downed Israeli F-35 fighter was taken from a flight simulator game; it got 23 million views on TikTok. In total, the three most viewed deepfake videos during the 2025 war received 100 million views across social media. One deepfake video that circulated on Facebook even depicted Israeli officials pleading for the US to enforce a ceasefire, claiming 'we cannot fight Iran any longer.' Legal scholars have coined the phrases 'liar's dividend' and 'truth decay' to characterise this ongoing trend towards fabricating reality — a media landscape where AI-driven fakes cast even legitimate evidence into doubt, eroding trust to the point where any image or medium can now be dismissed as a deepfake.