Soon after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. bombed Iran, footage claiming to show the aftermath flooded social media. But many images and videos were AI-generated, taken out of context or recorded from video games.
Demonstrators carry signs and wave the Iranian flag as they rally outside the White House, June 22, 2025, in Washington, to protest the U.S. military strike on three sites in Iran. Images and videos of explosions, fires, protests and weapons went viral after the United States’ June 21 attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites — but many of them didn’t show what was actually happening.
Instead, they were generated by artificial intelligence, taken out of context or recorded from video games or flight simulators. Many of them were shared by X accounts with blue check marks, which were formerly associated with accounts belonging to people or organizations with verified identities. It can be difficult to know at first glance on social media platforms whether fearmongering captions actually fit the photo or video you see; sometimes community notes programs add context, but PolitiFact fact-checked some of the misleading images and videos about the U.S. attack and reaction to it. Here’s a guide of what to avoid and tips about how to verify conflict imagery.that shows lightning striking a plume of smoke, erupting in a fiery haze. The caption warned of nuclear war:"Please pay attention to the Lightning! This is the surest sign that the explosion was indeed nuclear."Some generative AI models allow people to write prompts to generate realistic videos, and the results are getting more sophisticated., captioned,"Getting ready for strike," showed trucks with Iranian flags carrying missiles. A closer look showed the lines on the road were uneven, a tire on the second truck appeared to have a chunk ripped out of it, and the characters on the flags also didn’t match the real Iranian flag.that many AI-generated videos often last eight seconds or less, or are composed of eight-second clips edited together. That’s becausethan AI imagery during breaking news events. But during this war, both pro-Israel and pro-Iran accounts have shared AI imagery. Emmanuelle Saliba, chief investigative officer for the digital forensics company Get Real Labs, toldAlongside the increasing use of AI by misinformers, there has been no shortage of images and videos being shared with the wrong context. "Mass protests erupt across America as citizens take to the streets in outrage after the US launches attack on Iran," the caption of a Another X video shared the night of the U.S. attacks showed a big plume of fire and smoke."More footage of the BOMBS dropping on Iran earlier," read theA reverse image search can reveal whether a video has been posted online before, and what the original context was. Tools such as Google Lens and TinEye can show where images or videos were shared across platforms, who posted them and when the earliest post was made. Captions in images published by news outlets will likely show when and where they were taken.Imagery recorded from flight simulators and military video games is also misrepresenting the conflict.Except it wasn’t a real B2 bomber. Checking the video’s watermark leads to a TikTok account which posted the videoKeyword searches on video platforms such as YouTube can show if videos match video game footage that has previously been uploaded.Checking an account’s profile and bio will often reveal whether or not it is credible. Many false and misleading claims came from accounts with the Iranian flag as their profile photo and display names that can be mistaken for giving legitimate news updates. Such accounts include"Iran Updaes Commentary" , and"Iran News Daily Commentary." Another account — with a blue check — is named"Iran’s Reply."California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared images taken in 2021 and said they showed National Guard troops sleeping on the floor in June 2025.The Sean “Diddy” Combs trial testimony revealed that former President Barack Obama was “caught in secret meetings with Diddy’s drug runner.” Four million more people live in Florida, but New York gets $20 billion more for Medicaid, because it covers illegal immigrants and adults without chronic illness.
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