A Lego-style Iranian military commander raps over a gangster beat: “Our inbox is flooded with Americans saying they don’t watch the news. They listen to our songs instead since your media is full of shit.”

This is the opening line of an AI-generated video that is part of Iran’s meme campaign – built around Lego-style animation and rap soundtracks, which have accumulated billions of views online. The line captures the strange reality of contemporary politics: News is often most effectively disseminated not through journalism but humour, memes and entertainment.

Since late February, pro-Iranian media groups – most notably, the X account Explosive Media – have flooded social media with AI-generated video content mocking Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and US foreign policy. It has been dubbed “slopaganda” – but the sophistication is striking.

These videos contain disinformation and antisemitic tropes but do not look or feel like state propaganda – despite the spokesperson for Explosive Media admitting to the BBC that the Iranian government is a client. They capture the internet zeitgeist: Fast, funny, visually familiar and designed for virality.

The success of these memes lies in their audience strategy. They do not target people actively seeking news. Instead, they mimic the language of everyday internet culture to reach those who are not following events in the Middle East at all.

Humour is the mechanism they use to get reach. These videos function as Trojan horses, drawing viewers in with recognisable imagery, references and music – while communicating a narrative about American overreach, dysfunction and........

© The New Daily