Lego-style viral AI videos of the Iran war – fun or propaganda?

EXPLOSIVE MEDIA At first glance, they look like scenes that could have come from a Lego movie, albeit more vivid and fast-paced. But these AI-generated viral videos, inspired by the instantly recognizable Lego aesthetic, feature dying children, fighter jets and US President Donald Trump — and are, in fact, pro-Iran propaganda. For our new BBC podcast, Top Comment (available in English only), we spoke to a representative from Explosive Media, one of the main accounts responsible for generating these clips. He asked us to refer to him as Mr. Explosive. He is an experienced social media operator who initially denies working for the Iranian government. In previous interviews, the vehicle claimed to be “totally independent”. But upon further questioning, Mr. Explosive admits that the regime is a “client” — something he has never publicly confirmed. See the videos that are trending on g1 The predominant message of these videos is that Iran is resisting what it sees as an all-powerful global oppressor: the United States. The clips are flashy and unsubtle — but that hasn’t diminished the intensity with which people share and comment on them. Explosive Media’s AI-Generated Propaganda Videos Aren’t So Subtle In another, George Floyd appears under a police officer’s boot as we hear that Iran is “here for everyone its system has ever harmed.” “Slopaganda” — a term coined in an academic paper last year as a pun on “bad AI” — is too weak to capture how powerful this “highly sophisticated” content is, says advertising expert Emma Briant. AI-generated propaganda clips are estimated to have been viewed hundreds of millions of times over the course of the war. In our video call with Mr. Explosive, he appears in silhouette, flanked by red and green lights, the colors of the Iranian flag. He says his team at Explosive Media is made up of less than ten people, who use Lego-style graphics “because it’s a universal language.” Iranian and Russian state media accounts on X regularly share the videos with millions of followers. We asked Mr. Explosive why the Epstein files appear so frequently in his videos. He says it is to show the public the “kind of confrontation they are witnessing” between Iran — which is said to be “seeking truth and freedom” — and “those who associate with cannibals.” This is a reference to the theory that the Epstein files link the Trump administration to cannibalism — a claim for which there is no credible evidence. The videos are also full of factual inaccuracies — so we asked Mr. Explosive about them. In one clip, the Iranian military is shown capturing a downed US fighter pilot. US officials confirmed that the downed airman — who was isolated in a remote, mountainous region of Iran after his aircraft was shot down — was rescued by US special forces on April 4. Mr. Explosive doesn’t accept this, saying: “Possibly there was no pilot lost, there was no rescue operation. Their main objective was to steal uranium from Iran.” When we insist — citing U.S. officials who say the airman is now receiving treatment in Kuwait — he claims, “Only 13 percent of what Trump says is based on fact.” Explosive Media’s video about the aviator successfully amplified this alternative narrative among English-speaking audiences. A US-based partisan influencer on TikTok — @newswithsteph — told her followers that the Lego videos had been “surprisingly accurate so far; they broke the news about the American pilot’s recent mission, which was not a rescue mission but a special operations mission for uranium.” AI has allowed Iran and others to communicate directly with Western audiences more effectively than ever before, says Briant. They are using tools trained on Western data, which makes them ideal for creating “culturally appropriate” content. This is something that “authoritarian countries that want to target the West have not had in the past.” Tine Munk, a cyberwarfare expert at Nottingham Trent University, characterizes Iran’s tactics as “defensive memetic warfare,” which the creators see as necessary to counter U.S. rhetoric. Explosive Media’s videos first emerged in early 2025 — but their popularity grew enormously after the US-Iran war. The Lego-style clips are also becoming increasingly detailed, showing very specific Gulf locations, including power plants, airports and industrial areas being completely destroyed by Iranian missiles. In reality, most suffered only limited damage. US and Israeli military action has caused destruction in Iran since the war began in February GETTY IMAGES Videos are generally produced in “real time” and appear quickly after major events in the war. A video about the ceasefire agreement was published before any official announcement. According to authorities in these countries, thousands of people died in Iran, Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East. The current conflict began in February after the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran. After some back and forth in our conversation, Mr. Explosive admits that the Iranian government is, in fact, a “client” of his company. In previous Instagram messages, he had told us that his operation was directly contracted for several projects by Iranian authorities. Before the war began this year, thousands of protesters were killed in a brutal crackdown by the regime. The American Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) reports a death toll of at least 7,000 civilians. But Mr. Explosive defends his team’s relationship with the government, saying it was “honorable to work for the country.” He dismisses the recent mass protests as a “coup” funded by President Trump. Mr. Explosive also rejects the allegations we have made that his videos use anti-Semitic tropes. “Our videos are not anti-Semitic; our videos are anti-Zionist,” he says. When defending the representation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drinking blood, he says that this type of image highlights the “atrocities committed by him”. Most Iranians are unable to use the internet due to a nationwide internet blockade. Mr Explosive claims he was able to contact the BBC using “internet for journalists” granted by the Iranian government. Iran is consistently ranked as one of the most repressive countries in the world in terms of press freedom. Experts believe sophisticated AI-generated clips could represent a powerful form of internet diplomacy that’s here to stay EXPLOSIVE MEDIA Social media platforms have been taking down accounts featuring the Lego-style videos, but new ones seem to be popping up just as quickly. This is an agile and aggressive form of internet diplomacy that appears to be here to stay, according to Munk. Crucially, she adds, this “eliminates the middlemen, eliminates the press, the mass media, and constantly circulates memes.” “Traditional diplomacy doesn’t exist here. And that scrambles our understanding of what’s going on. But it also increases the risk of misinterpretation and escalation. So we’re in a kind of limbo.” This text was translated and reviewed by our journalists using AI, as part of a pilot project More weekend picks US and Iran fail to reach agreement after historic peace talks in Pakistan, says JD Vance Who is Orbán’s former ally who could remove Hungary’s PM from power after 16 years Inside the high-stakes diplomacy that led Pakistan to host peace talks between the US and Iran

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