In 2026, psychological warfare is waged in memes and videos shared on social media. As the war between the US, Israel, and Iran unfolds on the battlefield, it is also playing out across digital platforms.
Now, beyond individual creators, governments are capitalizing on how audiences, particularly younger ones, consume information.
This month, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford published a study highlighting a growing trend in which younger audiences, more than through traditional outlets, are getting their news from social media and short-form video.
In the wake of this trend, the front of memetic warfare continues to expand.
Iran's meme and AI campaign
Iran’s campaign on social media has been particularly prominent, and a number of the Islamic Republic’s memes and videos have gone viral.
Earlier this month, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim News Agency shared a Lego-style video showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Satan showing US President Donald Trump a photo album titled "Jeffrey Epstein File."
In response, the Lego Trump launches a missile that destroys the Iranian girls' school in Minab, where over 175 people were killed earlier in the war. In response, Lego Iranians launch missile and drone attacks that wreak havoc on Israel, US Gulf allies, and American and British troops.
In another example, following Trump’s announcement that the US and Iran may share control of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian embassy in South Africa shared a picture of the interior of a car with a fake, pink steering wheel attached to the dashboard in front of the passenger’s seat.
In another video, also directed at the US president, Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari mocks Trump’s signature line from The Apprentice, “You are fired,” by repeating the phrase, adding “thank you for your attention to this matter,” referencing the line the president often uses to sign off on announcements posted to his Truth Social account.
Meanwhile, accounts affiliated with the Islamic Republic have been posting increasing amounts of AI-generated content. While accusing Israel of using AI to fake videos proving Netanyahu was not killed in an Iranian missile attack, an Iranian-linked account uses the emergent technology to create propaganda videos and fake news.
Iran’s use of AI to create fake images to boost its perceived military prowess came into the spotlight in June of last year, when accounts associated with the country spread a fake image purporting to show a downed US B-2 bomber.
The IDF and the social media battle
Israel, for its part, has also openly engaged in social media warfare. Over the course of the war, the IDF has published videos to its Instagram account to capitalize on social media trends.
Last week, joining a nostalgic trend where people post images and videos of themselves in the 1990’s, the IDF posted a video featuring IDF aircraft, tanks, naval vessels, and personnel from the decade, with the audio playing "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls.
In another video, the IDF posted a video of a group text chat. In the video, former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei writes, “Death to Israel, death to America, who’s in?”
A series of successive notifications pop up where Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian leaders, including Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Sinwar, Hossein Salami, and ultimately Khamenei himself, are shown having “left the chat.”
The notifications in the video appear with the dates the figures were killed by the IDF.
The White House and meme warfare
The US too has escalated its use of social media warfare since the start of Operation Epic Fury, with such content being published by accounts associated with Trump.
The White House’s X/Twitter account has posted several videos designed to go viral.
In one, footage from the Wii Sports video game is stitched together with declassified videos of US Central Command (CENTCOM) strikes on Iranian targets.
Another video, titled “Justice the American Way,” stitches together CENTCOM footage with clips from popular movies and television shows, along with music from the Mortal Kombat video game.
Another video posted by the White House switches between footage of CENTCOM strikes and a clip from SpongeBob, in which SpongeBob, dressed as a superhero, asks, “Want to see me do it again?”