US EditionFake Iran images show AI used as a weapon of ‘public opinion,’ USF experts say
AI-generated videos and doctored images have fueled false claims of Iranian military success, with over 21.9 million views tracked by NewsGuard on social platforms.
- Since Feb. 28, 2026, Iranian state media significantly increased disinformation, with NewsGuard finding 18 false war claims and Tehran Times posting a satellite image claiming U.S. radar destruction at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
- AFP's head of digital investigations and Wired report that verification gaps and platform monetization incentivize fabricated posts, with limited access to foreign media pushing Iranians to rely on state outlets and domestic networks.
- Fact-Checkers documented misattributed content, including a Dubai warehouse fire from November 2025 and game footage from Arma 3, as Iran's outlets amplified false battlefield claims.
- On March 3, Nikita Bier, X's head of product, said the platform will suspend users posting AI-generated conflict videos without disclosure from Creator Revenue Sharing for 90 days, using Community Notes and metadata to flag posts while fact-checkers debunk 80% of false claims first.
- The information space has become a secondary battlefield as manipulated content circulates, with Matryoshka fabricating nine claims targeting Ukraine and France, risking confusion among online audiences.
85 Articles
85 Articles
How Iran is using AI to sway public opinion
Iran is exploiting hyper-realistic AI-generated war videos to flood social media with fake scenes of destruction, manipulating global perception and swaying millions of viewers who mistake propaganda for real battlefield footage. The post WATCH: How Iran is using AI to sway public opinion appeared first on World Israel News.
Images made with artificial intelligence, old videos from another location, and fake satellite images. We found out how the situation in the Middle East also triggered war on social media.
Associated Press News
State actors are behind much of the visual misinformation about the Iran war
A deluge of misrepresented or fabricated videos has spread widely online since the Iran war began last weekend, fueled in part by state-linked propaganda influence campaigns — particularly around who is winning the war and how bad casualties have been.
No, The War With Iran Didn’t Happen Because Kamala Harris Lost
Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers / Getty In the days since the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes across Iran, a campaign that began on Feb. 28 and has since widened into a regional conflict, social media reacted the way social media does. Within minutes, timelines across social media platforms were filled with memes and videos. The digital spectacle of war erupted. There were posts screaming “World War II…
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