Generated Iranian Protest Videos: When Information Vacuum Meets Digital Illusion

Year and month, a video went viral on social media. In the footage, thousands of people holding glowing phones formed a sea of light, marching through dark streets. Overlaid text above read, "All eyes are on Iran." The video spread rapidly on , , , and , with single posts reaching hundreds of thousands of views and estimated cumulative views in the tens of millions. It captured the world's gaze on the turmoil within Iran, delivering a powerful emotional impact.

However, this breathtaking scene is not real. An investigation in Germany has revealed that the video is entirely an artificial intelligence creation. Through reverse image search, investigators traced it back to its source—a user who described it as "a digital tribute to the current protests in Iran." The creator openly admitted that the inspiration came from a real video clip showing protesters on the dark streets of Tehran, and they attempted to "artistically recreate" that scene using technology. From a technical perspective, this is a successful piece of digital art; from the standpoint of information dissemination, it is a depth charge dropped into the deep waters of public opinion.

This video is just the tip of the iceberg. As Iranian authorities implemented a severe internet blockade to suppress nationwide protests that erupted at the end of the year, the outflow of truthful information became extremely difficult. According to data from the Human Rights Activists News Agency, by mid-December, over [number] protesters had been killed and [number] arrested. It is in this near-total information vacuum that AI-generated videos and images flooded social networks on an unprecedented scale and speed, being utilized by both anti-government and pro-government forces in an attempt to shape conflicting narratives and compete for the attention and perception of a global audience.

Deepfake Wave: A Multi-Faceted Digital Propaganda War

Generated content is not a new phenomenon, but its application in the crisis in Iran has taken on new dimensions and scale. In a report dated [Month] [Year], a U.S. disinformation monitoring agency noted that they had identified at least seven generated videos depicting protests in Iran, which collectively garnered approximately [number] million views across various platforms within a few days. This content does not originate from a single source but rather forms a multi-voiced, and at times even contradictory, digital public opinion sphere.

The AI Toolization of Anti-Government Narratives. An AI-generated video widely circulated on platform X shows female protesters smashing vehicles belonging to Iran's paramilitary organization, the Basij. The accompanying text reads: "Free Iranian women are crushing the machines of the Basij militia. By Allah, these women are braver and more honorable than... the militias loyal to the Khamenei regime." The post garnered nearly 720,000 views. Although users later pointed out that the appearance of glass shards in the video seemed abrupt and likely AI-generated, its dissemination effect had already been achieved.

More symbolically, some anti-government users, particularly those from the United States, created and disseminated videos showing Iranian protesters symbolically renaming streets as "Trump Street." One such video depicted a protester changing a street sign to "Trump Street," with other demonstrators cheering nearby. Overlaid text in the video read, "Iranian protesters are renaming streets after Trump." This was clearly a response to and amplification of the high-profile statements made by former U.S. President Trump, who had repeatedly expressed support for the Iranian people. Trump claimed he had been informed that the killing of protesters had stopped but would "keep a close watch" on the situation, leaving open the possibility of military action. These videos combined political symbols with virtual scenarios, aiming to reinforce a narrative that "the Iranian people lean toward the West."

Digital Counterattack by Pro-Government Forces. Meanwhile, social media users supporting the Tehran regime are also utilizing the same technology. They share AI-generated videos claiming to show large-scale pro-government counter-demonstrations taking place across the Islamic Republic. For instance, some videos attempt to depict "hundreds of thousands" rather than the "tens of thousands" of pro-government supporters marching in Tehran as reported by the Associated Press. This operation aims to counter international media focus on the scale of protests, create an impression of broad domestic regime support, and fill the narrative void left by a lack of authentic footage.

The Evolution from "Grafting" to "Creating from Nothing". More alarmingly, AI generation technology has elevated the production of false information from simple "repurposing old news" or "location tampering" to complete "scene hallucination." For example, a video from several months ago claimed to show protests in Iran but was actually filmed in Greece in November 2025 (reportedly a conflict scene after a concert in Thessaloniki). Another video claiming to depict protesters tearing down the Iranian flag was actually filmed during protests in Nepal last year. These still involve the misuse of real footage. However, the aforementioned Guanghai parade and another widely circulated image of "a protester standing on a statue waving the old Iranian flag" were generated from scratch. That highly evocative statue image, tested by Google's "SynthID" tool, was confirmed to contain the invisible watermark characteristic of AI-generated content. Investigation revealed it was based on a screenshot from a real video, "enhanced" through AI technology: adding thick smoke, dramatic lighting, more protesters, and a clearer old flag, thereby creating a more impactful and symbolic "news image."

The Dramatic Shift in the Information Ecosystem: How a Vacuum Gives Rise to Illusions

Iran's internet blockade has created a near-perfect "information black hole." Analyst Ines Jomanez pointedly noted: "There is a lot of news—but due to the internet blockade, it cannot be accessed." This situation has fundamentally altered the dynamics of information dissemination during crisis events.

The Failure of Traditional Verification Mechanisms. In past regional conflicts or social unrest, despite the presence of misinformation, journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens could still transmit some cross-verified visual materials through intermittent network connections, satellite phones, or covert means. These authentic materials formed the basis for the international community's understanding of events. However, when Iranian authorities implemented a comprehensive and severe internet blackout, this information supply chain was fundamentally severed. Professional news organizations and fact-checking groups lost their channels for on-site verification and were forced to rely heavily on limited, difficult-to-verify information sources.

The "Filling" Instinct of Social Media. Social media platforms' information feeds abhor a vacuum. When users are eager to understand what is happening in Iran and traditional sources cannot satisfy this need, the platform's content ecosystem spontaneously "produces" content to fill the demand. The proliferation of AI video generation tools has unprecedentedly lowered the barrier to such "production." Any user with the relevant software and creativity (or intent) can create seemingly professional, emotionally charged "on-the-scene footage" in a short time. Due to their visual "realism" and narrative "resonance," such content easily gains algorithmic recommendations and user shares, leading to rapid dissemination.

Emotional resonance precedes fact-checking. In the rapidly scrolling information flow, users are often emotionally moved first, and only then might (and usually do not) engage in rational verification. The AI-generated video of the "Sea of Lights" parade garnered tens of millions of views precisely because it accurately captured and externalized the global audience's sympathy and solidarity with the Iranian people. The slogan "All eyes on Iran" is itself a form of emotional mobilization. In such cases, fact-checking often lags behind, and even when verification results are announced, their reach is far less extensive than the original false content. As discovered by the fact-checking department of India's *Mathrubhumi* newspaper, the "Sea of Lights" video was determined by AI detection tools to have a 97.9% probability of being AI-generated, but this conclusion has limited corrective effect on the already widespread impression.

Deep Impact: Erosion of Trust and Cognitive Warfare

The proliferation of generated videos in the context of protests in Iran has implications far beyond the spread of a few pieces of false content. It marks a new and more dangerous phase in information warfare and cognitive warfare in the digital age.

A Fundamental Challenge to News Authenticity. The old adage "seeing is believing" has already crumbled in the face of deepfake technology. When AI can generate convincingly realistic "on-the-scene" footage, the public's foundational trust in all visual evidence is shaken. The so-called "hallucinatory" visual content, as termed by experts, is becoming increasingly common in major news events, often overshadowing genuine images and videos. Over time, this could lead to widespread skepticism, where people may begin to distrust any imagery that hasn't undergone extremely complex verification, or conversely, fall into a kind of "post-truth" apathy, choosing only to believe narratives that align with their own preferences, regardless of their truth or falsehood.

A New Tool in Geopolitical Gamesmanship. These AI videos do not exist in isolation; they are embedded within a broader geopolitical narrative. Anti-government content echoes the rhetoric of Western (particularly American) political figures, aiming to create the perception that the Iranian regime has lost popular support and that change is imminent. Pro-government content seeks to reinforce the regime's legitimacy and counter international pressure. This is essentially a cognitive domain operation conducted using cutting-edge digital technology, with the global social media landscape as its battlefield and the goal of influencing international public opinion and potential policy directions. The unsettling scenario depicted in the film "The Summit," where a tech giant's platform sows global chaos and violence through user-generated incendiary videos, finds a disturbing parallel in reality.

Secondary Harm to People in Crisis. For those within Iran, struggling under information blackouts and real-world repression, as well as their relatives and friends overseas, these AI-generated videos, which are difficult to distinguish from reality, may cause confusion, mislead, or even offer false hope. They could distort the outside world's understanding of the severity of the situation and might be used by the authorities as a pretext for further crackdowns and accusations of "foreign media incitement." The genuine voices are drowned in a tidal wave of digital illusions, and their suffering and demands are, to some extent, turned into a "spectacle" and "instrumentalized."

Where Lies the Path Ahead: Finding an Anchor in the Technological Fog

Facing the challenges brought by generated content, there is no simple solution, but some directions are emerging.

The Arms Race in Technical Defense. Developing more powerful AI detection tools (such as Google's SynthID) is crucial, but this is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. As generation technology advances, detection technology must develop in sync or even ahead. Platforms need to integrate these tools more deeply into their content moderation workflows and prominently label content suspected to be AI-generated.

Reiteration and Strengthening of Platform Responsibilities. Social media platforms can no longer continue to act as passive, neutral conduits. They need to formulate and strictly enforce policies targeting AI-generated fake news content, especially in high-risk contexts such as armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, and elections. This includes accelerating the verification and handling speed of suspected harmful AI content, as well as adjusting algorithms to avoid excessively promoting highly emotional but dubious content.

Nationwide Upgrade of Media Literacy. Public education has never been more important. It is essential to teach users how to maintain a healthy skepticism towards astonishing visual content, how to seek multiple sources for cross-verification, and how to identify potential subtle flaws in AI-generated content (such as unnatural hand movements, details that defy physical laws, overly perfect lighting and shadows, etc.). News organizations and educational institutions should take on greater responsibility in this regard.

The Irreplaceable Value of Professional Journalism. Amidst the information chaos, the value of professional, rigorous, and ethically-guided news reporting becomes even more prominent. Despite facing immense difficulties, agencies like Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and their fact-checking departments are still striving to verify information through limited channels and provide validated reports. Supporting independent journalism, especially local journalism operating under high-pressure conditions, is fundamental infrastructure for resisting information pollution.

Iran's internet may not yet be restored, but the future revealed by AI-generated protest videos has already arrived. We are entering an era where seeing is no longer believing, an era where the information environment can be easily polluted. This digital fog, which began on the dark streets of Tehran, will eventually envelop us all. The solution does not lie in nostalgically calling for the "truth" of the past, but in building a more resilient information verification system, a platform accountability framework, and public cognitive capabilities that adapt to the new technological reality. In this protracted war against digital illusions, maintaining a clear mind may be our most fundamental line of defense.