The 2026 US-Iran war was not just fought on the battlefield, but also across social media.
asserted
war → fight → media
AI-generated animations inspired by "The Lego Movie" showcased Iran's military power, while another animated video depicted a supersized version of US Vice President JD Vance rampaging through Tehran like Godzilla.
asserted
video → generate → Godzilla
Accounts sharing this kind of content have amassed millions of views and offer a powerful example of propaganda in the age of artificial intelligence.
They also illustrate how propaganda, while far from a new phenomenon, continues to evolve alongside technology.
asserted
propaganda → share → technology
And how can you spot it?
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you → spot → it
DW Fact check offers tips to help you navigate today's information landscape.
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you → offer → landscape
Defining propaganda
Propaganda is often described as the deliberate use of information by governments, politicians and other actors to shape people’s beliefs, attitudes or behavior.
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Propaganda → define → beliefs
It relies on the selective presentation of information, emphasizing certain facts while omitting or misrepresenting others.
asserted
It → rely → others
Propaganda is not only deployed by authoritarian countries like Russia, China and North Korea; it can be found all over the world.
asserted
it → deploy → world
A key difference between systems is that propaganda in authoritarian states is often heavily centralized and tightly controlled.
asserted
propaganda → control → states
In democratic societies, propaganda is often more pluralistic, produced by a wider range of actors.
asserted
propaganda → produce → actors
Moreover, freely accessing alternative media outlets and information is far more straightforward in democracies.
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accessing → access → democracies
Talking to DW, Piers Robinson, a political scientist with the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, said propaganda can persuade someone to act or behave in a particular way.
asserted
propaganda → talk → way
He cited the example of how US politicians worked to convince the public to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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politicians → cite → Iraq
"In that case, famously, they exaggerated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to make Iraq appear a bigger threat than it really was," said Robinson.
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Robinson → exaggerate → destruction
No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in the country.
asserted
weapons → find → country
Images presented by the CIA purporting to prove their existence constituted misinformation deployed for propaganda purposes.
asserted
Images → present → purposes
The Iraq War demonstrates another key aim of propaganda: vilifying political opponents, rival countries, or cultures or values seen as undesirable or threatening.
asserted
War → demonstrate → opponents
Researcherswho have studied his political rhetoric point to his frequent use of name-calling as a technique for discrediting political opponents and to his use of exaggerated claims to portray undocumented immigrants disparagingly.
uncertain
studied → study → immigrants
What role do media outlets play in spreading propaganda?
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outlets → play → propaganda
Media organizations can spread and amplify propaganda messages either knowingly or by mistake, Christian Mihr of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) told DW.
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Mihr → spread → DW
Russian state-funded broadcaster RT, for instance, is often accused of serving as a Kremlin mouthpiece.
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broadcaster → fund → mouthpiece
Its coverage largely reflects the Russian government's official position.
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coverage → reflect → position
Ideally, media organizations play the opposite role: as watchdogs to sniff out and debunk propaganda.
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organizations → play → propaganda
Indeed, media researchers say this is one of the most important tasks expected of journalists.
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this → say → journalists
RSF's Mihr said journalists are in an ideal position to help contextualize political propaganda by asking lawmakers tough questions and interviewing independent experts.
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journalists → say → experts
Artificial intelligence is dramatically changing the way propaganda is created and distributed.
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propaganda → change → way
While producing propaganda once required hours or days of work, AI tools can now generate images, videos and audios in minutes.
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tools → produce → minutes
This allows governments and other actors to adapt messages quickly and tailor them to different audiences, platforms and languages.
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governments → allow → audiences
That's where the term "slopaganda" comes in.
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slopaganda → come → ?
It combines propaganda and slop, a term often used for low-quality, AI-generated material.
asserted
It → combine → material
Consider the AI-generated images mentioned above that circulated during the 2026 US-Iran war.
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that → consider → war
Their widespread use has led some observers to describe the conflict as a "slopaganda war", highlighting the emergence of a new form of online information warfare.
asserted
use → lead → warfare
So, with all this in mind, how can you tell whether you’re looking at propaganda?
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you → tell → propaganda
Tips to detect propaganda
Although propaganda is often subtle, there are, nevertheless, ways of identifying it.
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propaganda → detect → it
One of the most effective ways is to look closely at where the information comes from.
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information → look → where
Did a government official or agency publish the message?
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official → publish → message
Does it come from a state-funded media outlet?
asserted
it → come → outlet
Who runs the source?
asserted
Who → run → source
Can I find information about how it is funded?
asserted
it → find → information
The more information you can find out, the better you will be able to evaluate a source.
asserted
you → find → source
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
