AI News Monitor

A flood of disinformation has spread across social media since Israel launched strikes on Iran last week, with fabricated videos, recycled footage, and A.I.-generated images distorting perceptions of the conflict, according to an analysis by BBC Verify.

The most viral false claims—some amassing over 100 million views—include manipulated videos exaggerating Iran’s military retaliation and old clips falsely presented as evidence of Iranian dissent against Tehran’s government. Pro-Israeli accounts have also recirculated outdated protest footage to suggest widespread Iranian support for Israel’s campaign.

The volume of misleading content is “astonishing,” said Geoconfirmed, an open-source analysis group. Among the most pervasive fakes are clips from video games passed off as real missile strikes, unrelated footage from Pakistan, and A.I.-generated imagery of attacks on Tel Aviv. One widely shared image, viewed 27 million times, depicted a barrage of missiles hitting the Israeli city—a complete fabrication.

“This is the first time we’ve seen generative A.I. used at scale during a conflict,” said Emmanuelle Saliba, an investigator with the analyst group Get Real. Nighttime attack videos, she noted, are particularly difficult to verify.

Some accounts have seen explosive growth by spreading false claims. A pro-Iranian profile, Daily Iran Military, doubled its followers on X in under a week, reaching 1.4 million. Many such accounts bear blue verification ticks, lending them a false air of legitimacy.

Disinformation has also targeted military hardware. Multiple posts falsely claimed Israel’s advanced F-35 jets had been destroyed—a narrative that analysts say aligns with Russian efforts to undermine confidence in Western weapons. One video, viewed 21 million times on TikTok, was later revealed to be footage from a flight simulator game.

Even official sources have amplified false content. Iranian state media shared an A.I.-generated image of a downed F-35, while an Israeli military post on X was flagged for using unrelated missile footage.

Social platforms have struggled to contain the misinformation. X’s A.I. chatbot, Grok, erroneously affirmed the authenticity of some fake videos, while TikTok removed others only after BBC inquiries.

Experts warn that sensationalist falsehoods thrive in polarized conflicts. “People reshare what aligns with their political identity,” said Matthew Facciani, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame. “Emotional, exaggerated content spreads fastest.”

As speculation grows over potential U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, A.I.-generated images of stealth bombers over Tehran have begun circulating—another layer in an increasingly murky information war.