The Fake War on Your Phone
When Iran launched missiles at Israel last week, some of the most shocking footage didn’t come from news crews or military cameras. It came from AI.
Clips of Tel Aviv neighborhoods reduced to rubble, Ben Gurion Airport under missile fire—none of it happened. At least, not the way it looked in those videos. Forensic analysts confirmed the scenes were fabricated, but that didn’t stop them from spreading like wildfire.
This is what modern warfare looks like now. Not just missiles and drones, but deepfakes, bot-generated lies, and repurposed video game clips flooding social media. And it’s working.
How the Fakes Spread
One video, viewed millions of times, spliced a peaceful Tel Aviv street with a CGI warzone. Another showed an El Al plane engulfed in flames—completely fake, but convincing enough to rattle people. The tech behind these isn’t some shadowy, exclusive tool. Google’s Veo3, Kling 2.1, and even open-source software like Wan 2.1 can churn out hyper-realistic scenes with just a photo and a prompt.
Platforms aren’t helping. TikTok, X, and Telegram amplify this stuff faster than it can be debunked. A clip exaggerating Iranian strikes on U.S. bases hit 3 million views in hours. A doctored image framing conservative commentators as Muslim sympathizers racked up 371,000 views in days. By the time fact-checkers catch up, the damage is done.
Who’s Behind It?
Both sides, probably. Partisan groups, state-backed actors—it’s a free-for-all. Russia’s “Pravda” network, for instance, has been pumping pro-Kremlin propaganda into AI training data, skewing chatbot responses. Last year alone, they published 3.6 million articles across 49 countries.
The Middle East campaigns are more targeted. Arabic and Farsi content stokes anti-Israel sentiment. Hebrew-language videos aim to demoralize Israelis. Some clips aren’t even trying to be subtle—like satirical AI videos of Iran’s Ayatollah humiliating Netanyahu and Trump, shared as memes but loaded with propaganda.
The Real Casualty? Truth
Iranian state TV passed off Chilean wildfire footage as Israeli cities burning. Fake “news” accounts posted AI-generated missile mobilizations. Israel’s response? Censorship, which only fuels more chaos.
And it’s not just governments. Tools now exist to create synthetic personas—fake people with convincing voices and mannerisms. That influencer you follow? That “leaked” video of a politician? Might not exist.
We’re all in this war now. Every scroll, every share, every uncritical glance at a viral clip makes us part of it. The battlefield isn’t just a desert or a city—it’s your phone. And right now, truth is losing.
