Fabricated videos, recycled footage and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images are spreading rapidly across social media platforms as the military confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran intensifies, with fact-checkers warning that the scale of AI-driven misinformation marks a new and troubling chapter in modern conflict.
The joint US-Israeli campaign, codenamed Operation Roaring Lion by Israel and Operation Epic Fury by the United States, began on February 28, 2026, targeting military facilities, officials and infrastructure across multiple Iranian cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj and Kermanshah. The strikes and Iran’s retaliatory response have triggered an information crisis online as demand for real-time footage has outpaced the ability of platforms and journalists to verify what is real.
Scale of the Problem
Fact-checkers have identified fabricated clips purporting to show explosions in Tel Aviv, including one video that turned out to be footage from a 2015 chemical warehouse fire in Tianjin, China, while another video claiming to show Iranian missiles striking Israel dated back to an October 2024 attack.
AI-generated scenes depicting a destroyed Tel Aviv, downed F-35 jets and protests that never occurred flooded Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Western social media channels. Posts showing an alleged Iranian strike on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa accumulated more than 2.2 million views before being debunked, with analysts noting telltale AI distortions including unusual limb shapes in the imagery.
AI-generated images falsely depicting rescuers recovering the body of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also spread widely, including among figures with large public followings.
Coordinated Networks Identified
X head of product Nikita Bier said investigators identified a single operator in Pakistan managing 31 hacked accounts, all renamed to “Iran War Monitor” or similar variants on February 27, one day before the strikes began, and using them to spread AI-generated war videos. Bier said X was accelerating its detection capabilities and eliminating financial incentives for users spreading fabricated content.
Under the new policy, users who repeatedly post AI-generated conflict footage without clearly labelling it as synthetic media will be suspended from X’s revenue-sharing programme, with repeat violations resulting in permanent suspension from earnings.
A Defining Moment for AI and Conflict
A BBC Verify journalist described the US-Israel-Iran confrontation as potentially carrying the most AI-generated viral videos of any conflict to date.
Analysts warn that as AI-generated disinformation becomes more common, trust erodes broadly, with some authentic footage now being dismissed as fabricated simply because it contradicts viewers’ existing beliefs. The pattern points to a deepening challenge for journalists, policymakers and the public as the digital information space becomes as fiercely contested as the battlefield itself.
