But none of those bore the sophistication or cultural insight of the videos currently being shared by Explosive Media.
In one video, the group depicts Trump ordering the strikes on Iran after reviewing an “Epstein File” while standing alongside Satan and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In another, Iranian missiles bearing the names of everyone from Malcolm X to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein are shown being fired at the US. In a short video posted over the weekend, the group showed Trump holding up a victory sign while his behind was on fire. Many of the videos also feature catchy music including original rap tracks in English. The group has even set up its own Spotify page where it has posted the songs from the videos.
The group claims that it is not associated with the Iranian regime, but its pro-regime stance, coupled with the fact it seemingly has Internet access in a country that is virtually cut off from the global Internet, may suggest otherwise. “Seeing as how the regime in Iran has effectively cut off the Internet to everyone else, I think you’d have to be pretty close to the government to have access to the Internet,” says Ayad.
The group told WIRED that it obtained Internet access because it was viewed as a media organization, claiming over 2.5 million followers on different “Iranian messaging channels.”
The Iranian regime has leveraged social media to push their side of the conflict to a non-Iranian audience, often combining AI and humor.
After Trump warned Iranians that they would soon be “living in Hell” this week, the country’s embassy in Zimbabwe posted on X suggesting they had lost the keys to the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian embassy in Tunisia posted an AI-video of Trump walking off Air Force One holding a large white flag.
“All that stuff has been really demonstrating both Iranian capabilities to understand what American audiences gravitate towards and also a firm understanding how the Internet functions, especially social media platforms and what gets the most attention, what gets people re-sharing the content, engaging with the content,” says Ayad. “And they’ve done that well with the Lego videos. I don’t think there’s another piece of media that has come out of this conflict that has been talked about, re-shared as much as the Lego videos.”
This story originally appeared on wired.com.