The Memo: Pro-Iran memes go viral, striking back at Trump in propaganda war

The war on Iran is the first major conflict where the propaganda battle might be won or lost in memes.

Pro-Iran accounts have unleashed viral videos in recent days mocking President Trump, casting him as a dupe of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suggesting U.S. forces could suffer major losses if the conflict continues.

The videos make use of AI technology and sophisticated animation, holding Trump and his allies up to ridicule and sometimes presenting the protagonists in the war as Lego-style characters. 

(The official Lego brand obviously has no connection with the videos in question.)

The videos are plainly designed not only to show Iranian defiance but to foment dissent against Trump’s war among Americans. They function almost entirely on a visual level, removing any real language barrier, and the spare text is more often in English than in Farsi. Some videos also make reference to potent topics in American political culture, such as the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The pro-Iranian messages are a counterweight, of a kind, to the videos the Trump administration has released to underscore its military successes in the conflict that began on Feb. 28. 

The U.S. videos have been accompanied by loud music and spliced with clips from franchises including “Call of Duty” and “Top Gun.” In one instance, cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants even popped up saying, “You want to see me do it again?” amid footage of U.S. strikes on Iran.

The American videos have been controversial, with critics complaining about a trivialization or gamification of war and bloodshed. The administration has defended the approach. In one quote that itself went semi-viral on social media, an unnamed senior White House official proudly told Politico, “We’re over here just grinding away on banger memes, dude.”

Experts on propaganda and the use of social media in the modern age say that the new developments are hugely........

© The Hill