Iran’s AI propaganda war, Lego-style - Click Here

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[00:03]
Dena Temple-Raston
From Recorded Future News and prx, this is Click here. Days into the war with Iran, the White House posted a video part movie trailer, part bro montage, with a little video game swagger thrown in for good measure. Welcome home, sir. Strength and honor.
[00:26]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Strength and honor.
[00:27]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
What will you do without freedom?
[00:29]
Dena Temple-Raston
Maybe you'll recognize some of the references of what I'm capable of finishing this fight.
[00:36]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back.
[00:39]
Dena Temple-Raston
I'm here to fight the truth and justice in the American way. Superman, Top Gun, Breaking Bad, and John Wick. All cut together with missile launches, explosions, and footage from America's opening strikes on Iran. And then, just in case you missed the point, the word wasted flashes across the screen in red, the way it does when your character dies in Grand Theft Auto. The reaction to this video was immediate. Tina Monk is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University in the uk. She studies cyber warfare, and she says governments have always tried to shape public opinion during wartime. What surprised her wasn't that the White House made a video. It was the kind of video it made.
[01:31]
Tina Monk
It felt very appropriate in the way it was made, where you have clips where people are basically being attacked but sanitized. You couldn't see anything. Of all the bad stuff that happens during a war, it feels like war was turned into something that was okay, that was normal. People felt that it was a way of sanitizing war.
[01:57]
Dena Temple-Raston
But that White House video wasn't the end of the story because pretty soon Iran was answering in kind. From recorded Future News and prx, this is Click Here the show about how technology is changing everything. I'm Dena Temple Reston. Today, a war being fought with missiles and and memes. We'll be right back. Support for Qlik here comes from Nord Security. Here's the challenge IT Teams need to see what's happening in browsers, but they can't slow anyone down or disrupt their workflow. Nord layer browser solves this. It gives it teams full visibility and control over browser activity while keeping everything familiar and fast. For employees, two products work together. NORD layer provides the secured network foundation. Then NORD layer browser extends that into the workflow, managing web apps, sessions and data. The payoff? Every browser session becomes visible, controlled and secure. Company data stays protected. Access to sensitive resources is managed. Accidental data leaks are prevented. And it works for all kinds of teams. Remote workers, contractors, people using their own devices, all secured without the complex setup or device management. Go to nordlayer.com Browser clickhere and unlock your 10% discount on Nordlayer browser with coupon code. Clickhere10 that's nordlayer.com Browser Clickhere and enter coupon code clickhere10 at checkout. Support for Click here comes from Quince. August is like the Sunday of summer, the perfect time to hit reset before the autumn rush. And for me, that always starts with my wardrobe. Quince proves you don't need a crowded closet to look incredible. You just need the right pieces. Quince specializes in effortless, high quality essentials like ultra soft organic cotton and premium Mongolian cashmere sweaters. I have a quarter zip cashmere sweater that I loved so much I ended up buying it in three different colors. They also have premium stretch denim starting at just $50 with the kind of perfect fit, structure and weight you'd expect from a luxury designer. Everything at Quint's is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just apparel. Quint's also brings that same everyday elevation to everything from a hotel quality bedding and bath to kitchen staples and essentials and thoughtfully designed furniture. Upgrade your everyday Download the Quint app for app exclusive offers or go to quint.com clickhere get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q-U-I-N c e.com clickhere. A few weeks after the White House turned an airstrike into something that looked like a video game, something strange started showing up online. Videos that appeared to be coming from inside Iran, which for reasons we'll get into, was strange all by itself. But these were strange in another way. Everyone in them was made out of Lego.
[05:40]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Hey orange pig. America first.
[05:43]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Oops.
[05:43]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Oh boy. That was the slogan you stole. But Bibi's pulling strings and you vote is getting cold.
[05:51]
Dena Temple-Raston
Donald Trump is a Lego man, complete with Trump Lego hair. Netanyahu gets the little plastic treatment too. Blocky bodies, stiff little arms, bright colors. At first it almost looks cute. Then you notice the leash. Netanyahu is holding it. And on the other end is Trump, down on all fours with the face of a pig.
[06:14]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Make Israel great again.
[06:24]
Dena Temple-Raston
We wanted to know who was making these videos, so we got in touch. The group behind them calls itself Explosive Media. At first we knew almost nothing about them except for this. Their videos were reaching an astonishingly large audience. Iranian propaganda in the form of AI generated Lego videos has been getting a lot of attention. Published almost daily, these detailed Videos with American and Western cultural references have taken the world by storm. One video alone, an anti Trump screed put to a hip hop track, had been viewed nearly 900 million times, according to Explosive Media, which raised two questions. Who were these people and how had they figured out how to capture so much attention? Explosive Media, it turns out, was tiny. About 10 people, they told us, mostly university students and recent graduates. Tina Monk says that wasn't the remarkable part. The remarkable part was that they seemed to have a much better feel for what people online actually cared about.
[07:33]
Tina Monk
They have been able to be very on top of what is happening and on top of what people are looking for, what people are concerned about. And that was not what the US government and the administration was able to do with their narratives. And you can see some of the
[07:50]
Dena Temple-Raston
things the White House videos mostly spoke to people who already agreed with the White House. And Explosive Media began the same way. Their earliest videos were aimed at supporters of Iran. One of the first came after a US bomb reportedly hit an elementary school, killing about 120 children.
[08:11]
Tina Monk
You saw the attacks on the girls school and how people were upset and was fleeing. And then you saw the government coming in, taking care of the population.
[08:20]
Dena Temple-Raston
Tina says those early videos followed a pretty familiar script.
[08:25]
Tina Monk
Basically, look at us, we are being attacked kind of narrative. We are fighting back because this is what we need to do, we need to protect our population.
[08:37]
Dena Temple-Raston
But then something changed.
[08:39]
Tina Monk
Rather than to continue the narrative about we are the victims, we are being attacked, we need to protect our citizens and then somehow change the strategy a little bit, suddenly they start to tap into internal issues in the us.
[08:56]
Dena Temple-Raston
Take Jeffrey Epstein.
[08:57]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Now let's talk about Trump, the man painted in gold. You preach about moral, put the word on his back, but check the fl.
[09:06]
Dena Temple-Raston
In one video, Lego Trump flips through the Epstein files and beads of sweat start to form on his little Lego head. He panics, hits a big red button, and bombs start falling on Iran. Epstein wasn't really the point. It was the hook. Explosive Media had figured out that if they wanted Americans to watch, they had to begin with subjects Americans were already talking about. The first battle wasn't over what Americans believed. It was over what Americans would click on. Like this video that opens at a gas station. Cars lined up at the pumps.
[09:41]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
The price of your gas is the headline sound. The oil shock is coming to a pump near you.
[09:50]
Dena Temple-Raston
It cuts to families struggling to pay their bills, people turned away from medical care. It spends nearly a minute reminding Americans of everything that isn't going well. Then it offers an explanation. It's not you, America. It's the ones who lead. You listen to my heart.
[10:15]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
I don't hate the Americans who are living in fear. To the working class people trying to
[10:19]
Dena Temple-Raston
make ends meet, they weren't asking Americans to love Iran. They were asking Americans to see a bit of themselves in ordinary Iranians. The argument was simple. You're struggling, we're struggling. Maybe the problem isn't each other. Maybe it's the people running our government coast to coast.
[10:36]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
You're victims of the same machine that hurts us the most. So I wrote this track.
[10:45]
Dena Temple-Raston
And once explosive media figured that out, the videos got even more ambitious. They stopped just reacting to the headlines and started challenging something much bigger. The story Americans tell themselves about America. One video begins with Native Americans, then black Americans in chains. Abu Ghraib, Vietnam, Afghanistan. At the end one line, American progress built on bloodshed. It said, These aren't subtle messages, they're clearly propaganda. But they don't feel like it. They feel like entertainment. And T D Monk says that's the point.
[11:29]
Tina Monk
They function less like political communication. It functions much more like entertainment. So we have all these characters that we know from real life and they're put into this legal universe. We have familiar themes. We have running jokes. They're colorful. They have this fast pace. They are highly visuals and as always, this catchy music.
[11:56]
Dena Temple-Raston
You don't click on one of these videos because you're looking for Iranian propaganda. You click because it's entertaining and those little Lego guys are kind of funny. And then maybe you stick around to see what happens next. After the break, we meet the people, making them stay with us. Support for Click Here comes from Cerval. AI was supposed to free up your IT team. Instead, they're still drowning in password resets, laptop issues and broken VPNs. The same repetitive tickets every single day. That's not productivity, that's friction. And Servol can fix that. Just tell IT what you need in plain English and IT automates the work. No complex workflow builders, no consultants slowing you down. No six month implementations. That means your IT team can stop firefighting and start strategizing. The platform handles the repetitive stuff so your people can handle what's actually important. And it works. Cerbal guarantees you automate 50% of your IT tickets. Learn more or start a free four week pilot at cerbal.com clickhere that's S-E-R-V-A L.com clickhere servol.com clickhere if there was a big red button that would just demolish the Internet. I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is the Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life, and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. By the time we found explosive media, they weren't just making videos anymore. They were making something more like a series. Every new turn in the war became another episode. The same characters kept coming back, especially Trump. Trump as a pirate after the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Trump as a failed dealmaker after the peace talks collapsed. It was in effect, a television series that rewrote itself every time the news changed, which is a remarkable amount of television for a team of about 10 people to make, especially at the speed they were making it. And they told us this is where AI enters the story. Explosive Media agreed to talk to us over telegram, and we asked someone to voice their responses.
[14:49]
Explosive Media Representative
A few years ago, this speed wasn't possible because everything had to be done manually. But now AI has helped us create animations faster and get our voice out to the entire world.
[15:03]
Dena Temple-Raston
They told us a polished two minute video could now be made in less than a day.
[15:09]
Explosive Media Representative
Everything starts with ideas. Throughout the day we collect ideas, and when we want to make a video about the specific topic, we draw from those ideas.
[15:22]
Dena Temple-Raston
So imagine a 10 person writer's room watching news all day and collecting ideas for the next way to troll the United States. Except the writer's room is in Iran. At least that's where they told us it was. This is where we start to have questions about explosive media that had nothing to do with Lego. Like who exactly were they working for? They told us no one.
[15:46]
Explosive Media Representative
We're completely 100% independent in choosing our own intellectual direction and the topics of our animations. We take orders from no one. Everything we say is our belief.
[15:59]
Dena Temple-Raston
They said Iran's state media wasn't directing their work, it was just buying it.
[16:05]
Explosive Media Representative
Sometimes certain media in Iran buy our animations for broadcast, and among them, sometimes there are state affiliated media. This is completely normal, and any common sense can attest that this is a normal occurrence.
[16:21]
Dena Temple-Raston
Now, we have no way to verify that, and there were reasons to be skeptical. Some of the videos appeared first on accounts linked to Russia, before being amplified by media tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. But that wasn't the only mystery there was another one we couldn't explain. How were they getting online at all? Here was this little group in Iran, following the news in real time, uploading videos almost every day. They were talking to us on Telegram, reaching millions of people around the world, all from a country where the government had spent months trying to keep its own people offline. And during the war, Internet access had become even harder. For most Iranians, getting online was nearly impossible. But somehow, Explosive Media was doing it every day. So how are these guys still connected? The answer, it turns out, had nothing to do with the videos. It had to do with the Internet they were using. Explosive Media told the BBC it was working on what it called a journalist's Internet. In Iran, certain people are issued special SIM cards, often called white SIM cards. And these special cards continue to connect to the global Internet even when almost everyone else is cut off. Which means the blackout wasn't exactly a blackout. It really depended on who you were. The government hadn't simply turned the Internet off. It had just decided who got to have one. And suddenly a lot of things made more sense. Explosive Media had spent a lot of time criticizing the way the west portrayed this war. The spectacle, the memes, the war packaged as entertainment. Which left us with a pretty obvious question. Wasn't that exactly what they were doing?
[18:20]
Explosive Media Representative
So we asked, we're dealing with those who did more. Before they turned war into a game, turned war into a movie, they trivialized the killing of human beings. In fact, they moved into a hyper reality, meaning reality no longer matters to them. They constructed a reality outside of reality. So when this enemy of humanity, this enemy of children, this enemy of schools and universities, operates at the level of hyperreality, in the media war, we too must enter the game at the same level. Otherwise ordinary reality can no longer win this media war.
[19:05]
Dena Temple-Raston
To Explosive Media, the West had already changed the rules. War had become entertainment. Reality had become performance. And, they argued, they were just playing by the rules they believed the west had already set.
[19:19]
Explosive Media Representative
Western propaganda worked for a while. Western propaganda might have been believable as long as they didn't have that much blood on their own hands. How can they believe them when Western propaganda media have hidden the truth from people by covering up atrocities, by lying, and by not telling the historical truth about Asian nations?
[19:48]
Dena Temple-Raston
That's Explosive Media's version of events. And to be clear, we're not endorsing it. Their videos make sweeping claims about the West. They present disputed assertions as fact, and they leave out plenty that complicates their own story, including what the Iranian government is doing to its own people. Tina Monk Again, so what we can
[20:10]
Tina Monk
see with Iran, they have been suppressing them population. They're also been really good at circulating anti western narrative against the established society where they put themselves in a better light.
[20:24]
Dena Temple-Raston
So explosive media isn't giving you some unvarnished picture of reality. It's showing you what it wants you to see. Which brings us back to the bigger question about these videos. Do they actually work? Can a Lego video about Donald Trump actually change the way an American thinks about the war? Maybe, maybe not. But that may be the wrong measure of success because before you can change someone's mind, you have to get their attention and explosive media figured out how to do that. This is Click here
[21:06]
Recorded Future News Announcer
If you're looking for a daily guide to cybersecurity news and policy, sign up for the Cyber Daily from Recorded Future News. It serves up today's most interesting and important cyber stories from our sister publication the Record, and then aggregates all of the big cyber stories you might have missed from news outlets around the world. Just go to the Record Media and click on Cyber Daily to get all you need to know about the world of cybersecurity right in your inbox.
[21:38]
Dena Temple-Raston
Here's what happened in the tech world this past week. It's Tuesday, August 18th. The Trump administration is offering private companies a bigger role in fighting cybercrime, opening the door to something that has been tabooed now hacking back. President Trump has signed a national security agreement aimed at fighting cybercrime from overseas. Under a memo signed last week, private companies could conduct hacking operations against transnational cybercrime gangs, working alongside the Justice Department and Homeland Security. Each operation would need federal approval and would still have to comply with existing law. The White House says Americans lost more than $20 billion to cybercrime last year. But the memo leaves one potentially tricky question unanswered. What happens when the cybercriminals being targeted have ties to a foreign government? Critics worry that's where hacking back might turn into something bigger.
[22:38]
Tina Monk
For the first time, Taiwan slowed down its mobile Internet during its military exercises, practicing their response to what a Chinese
[22:46]
Dena Temple-Raston
invasion might look like. For 30 minutes, the island nation throttled mobile service as part of its annual war game. It was a dress rehearsal for what could happen if China tried to take the island by force. There were air raid sirens, empty streets, even a hospital practicing how it could move operations underground. And this year, for the first time, they practiced what happens when communications vanish? The drill comes on the heels of a cyber attack in July that used AI agents to break into government systems and steal thousands of personnel records. China is suspected of having been behind it. Flock cameras were built to help police track criminals. In Georgia, Investigators say three three former deputies used them to track people they knew. They're now facing all kinds of charges, from violating their oath of office to stalking, to requesting unauthorized information about people who they had personal relationships with. The deputies are accused of misusing Flock's license plate reader system to look up people in their personal lives, and there have been similar cases involving Flock in several other states. In response, Flock is tightening its rules. The company says it's cutting its recommended data retention period from 30 days to just seven, and by the end of the year, officers will need to enter a case code whenever they search the system. In Minnesota, though, some people have responded in another way. Flock cameras have been stolen or vandalized in at least seven cities, and some communities have decided to stop using them altogether. Flicker lights on silver sand
[24:32]
Tina Monk
Marching go with no command.
[24:36]
Dena Temple-Raston
That's Velvet Sundown, a band that racked up millions of streams last year. There's just one problem. The ban wasn't real. It was generated by AI. And now Spotify says it's going to make acts like Velvet Sundown easier to spot. Starting next month, some profiles will get an AI Persona label when the artist's identity, not necessarily the music, appears to be AI generated, and those artists will no longer show up in Spotify's editorial or algorithmic recommendations. Spotify says it will automatically screen profiles with human moderators making the final call. So Spotify may be getting better at filtering out fake artists artists, but bad taste is still up to you. Click Here is a production of Recorded Future News and prx. Today's show was written and produced by Megan Dietre, Sean Powers, Erica Guida, Zach Hirsch and Maya Fawaz. It was edited by Karen Duffin and Sarah Cavedo and fact checked by Darren Ancrum. Original music is by Ben Levingston, with additional music from Blue Dot Sessions. Our staff writer is Lucas Riley, our illustrator is Megan Gough, and our sound designers and engineers are Jake Cook and Jesse Niswonger. I'm Dina Tumble Raston, and thanks for listening. Support for this program comes from Recorded Future. In cybersecurity, the biggest risk isn't what can be seen, it's what gets missed. Recorded Future analyzes billions of signals to help organizations stay ahead of threats. Recorded Future Know what matters.
[26:26]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Act first if you're looking for a daily guide to cybersecurity news and policy. Sign up for the Cyber Daily from Recorded Future News. It serves up the day's most interesting and important cyber stories from our sister publication the Record, and then aggregates all of the big cyber stories you might from news outlets around the world. Just go to the Record Media and click on Cyber Daily to get all you need to know about the world of cybersecurity right in your inbox.

Summary5 min read

Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Click Here
Episode: Iran’s AI Propaganda War, Lego-style
Date: August 18, 2026
Host: Dena Temple-Raston (Recorded Future News)

Episode Overview

This episode of Click Here delves into the unconventional frontlines of the information war between the U.S. and Iran, where propaganda is crafted not just with missiles and press releases, but with memes, viral videos, and—most notably—AI-generated Lego animations. The team explores how tiny creative groups like Explosive Media use technology and pop culture to feed global narratives, influence public sentiment, and potentially reshape the way wars are perceived and fought.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The White House’s Blockbuster-Style War Video

[00:02-01:56]

The White House released a highly produced, movie trailer-esque video to announce strikes in Iran, merging references from Top Gun, Superman, John Wick, and video games.
The video sanitizes the violence, presenting war as entertainment.
- Quote [01:30]:
  “It felt very appropriate in the way it was made...it feels like war was turned into something that was okay, that was normal.” – Tina Monk (01:30)

2. Iran’s Surprise Response: Lego-Style AI Propaganda

[05:39-07:32]

Shortly after, Lego-themed videos mocking U.S. and Israeli leaders began appearing online, featuring AI-generated animations with cultural references familiar to the Western audience.
These videos, created by a small group called Explosive Media, quickly went viral, collecting hundreds of millions of views.

3. The Power and Tactics of Explosive Media

[07:32-08:55]

While their early videos focused on rallying Iranian support by portraying Iran as the victim, Explosive Media soon pivoted. They started connecting with American audiences by referencing hot-button U.S. topics (e.g., Jeffrey Epstein, rising gas prices).
- Quote [07:32]:
  “They have been able to be very on top of what people are looking for. That was not what the U.S. government was able to do with their narratives.” – Tina Monk (07:32)
They tapped into themes relatable to ordinary Americans, positioning both countries’ citizens as victims of leadership and the system.

4. Blurring the Lines Between Propaganda and Entertainment

[09:41-11:56]

The videos increasingly shifted away from news reactions to challenging core American narratives, touching on issues like racism and controversial history, all through Lego characters and catchy music.
- Quote [11:28]:
  “They function less like political communication...much more like entertainment. They're colorful, fast-paced, highly visual with catchy music.” – Tina Monk (11:28)

5. AI’s Role: Speed, Scale, and Accessibility

[14:49-15:09]

Explosive Media utilizes AI tools, reducing production time from days to under 24 hours per video.
- Quote [14:49]:
  “A few years ago, this speed wasn't possible because everything had to be done manually. But now AI has helped us create animations faster and get our voice out to the entire world.” – Explosive Media Representative (14:49)
Their workflow resembles a news-driven writers’ room, constantly mining current events for attention-grabbing, meme-able ideas.

6. Independence or State Influence?

[15:21-16:20]

Explosive Media claims it’s independent, not directed by the Iranian state, although Iranian (and sometimes Russian-linked) media purchase and amplify their content.
- Quote [15:46]:
  “We're completely 100% independent...we take orders from no one.” – Explosive Media Representative (15:46)
The actual nature of their independence is questioned, especially as their videos appear first on certain channels.

7. Bypassing Iran’s Internet Blackouts

[16:20-18:19]

Despite Iran’s severe wartime Internet restrictions, Explosive Media stays online using special “white SIM cards,” reserved for those with government privileges—including certain journalists and groups.
This selective access exposes the illusion of a “total” blackout and raises questions about government complicity or favoritism.

8. Propaganda’s New ‘Hyperreality’

[18:19-20:09]

The show discusses how both the U.S. and Iran are “gamifying” war, packaging reality into consumable entertainment, making it hard for audiences to separate fact from fiction.
- Quote [18:19]:
  “…we too must enter the game at the same level. Otherwise ordinary reality can no longer win this media war.” – Explosive Media Representative (18:19)
Explosive Media claims the West started this transformation; they are merely playing by new rules of ‘hyperreality.’
- Quote [19:18]:
  “Western propaganda might have been believable as long as they didn't have that much blood on their own hands.” – Explosive Media Representative (19:18)
The podcast is careful to note these are one-sided arguments, with Iran’s own human rights abuses often omitted.

9. Do These Videos Actually Work?

[20:09-21:06]

The show closes its analysis asking if such propaganda can really change minds.
Conclusion: The real “success” is attention—before changing beliefs, one must capture the audience, and Explosive Media “figured out how to do that.”

Memorable Quotes & Moments

On sanitizing war ([01:30] Tina Monk):
“It feels like war was turned into something that was okay, that was normal.”
On shifting propaganda strategy ([07:32] Tina Monk):
“They have been able to be very on top of what people are looking for…”
On using AI for speed ([14:49] Explosive Media):
“Now AI has helped us create animations faster and get our voice out to the entire world.”
On entering the propaganda ‘game’ ([18:19] Explosive Media):
“In the media war, we too must enter the game at the same level…”
On attention over persuasion ([20:23] Dena Temple-Raston):
“Before you can change someone’s mind, you have to get their attention, and Explosive Media figured out how to do that.”

Timestamps for Notable Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Summary | |--------------|------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02-01:56 | White House’s action movie-style Iran war video | | 05:39-07:32 | Introduction of Iranian Lego-style AI propaganda | | 08:55-11:56 | Shift from Iranian victimhood to tapping US issues | | 14:49-15:09 | How AI speeds up propaganda production | | 15:21-16:20 | Explosive Media’s claim of editorial independence | | 16:20-18:19 | How they stay online under Iranian blackouts | | 18:19-20:09 | The argument for propaganda-as-entertainment | | 20:09-21:06 | Questioning propaganda effectiveness |

Takeaways

Information warfare has moved onto new digital, meme-friendly, entertaining platforms, challenging traditional propaganda methods.
AI both accelerates and democratizes propaganda, enabling rapid, eye-catching content.
Entertainment and meme culture now shape perception more than solemn government broadcasts.
Access and independence are murky in authoritarian contexts—selective connectivity raises questions about the true relationship between state, creators, and audience.
Success in modern propaganda isn’t always about persuasion—it’s about attention, and whoever captures the audience wins the first battle.

Credits

Episode by Megan Dietre, Sean Powers, Erica Guida, Zach Hirsch, Maya Fawaz, Karen Duffin, Sarah Cavedo, Darren Ancrum, Ben Levingston, Blue Dot Sessions, Lucas Riley, Megan Gough, Jake Cook, Jesse Niswonger.
Host: Dena Temple-Raston
Production: Recorded Future News and PRX

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Transcript53 lines

[00:03]
Dena Temple-Raston
From Recorded Future News and prx, this is Click here. Days into the war with Iran, the White House posted a video part movie trailer, part bro montage, with a little video game swagger thrown in for good measure. Welcome home, sir. Strength and honor.
[00:26]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Strength and honor.
[00:27]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
What will you do without freedom?
[00:29]
Dena Temple-Raston
Maybe you'll recognize some of the references of what I'm capable of finishing this fight.
[00:36]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back.
[00:39]
Dena Temple-Raston
I'm here to fight the truth and justice in the American way. Superman, Top Gun, Breaking Bad, and John Wick. All cut together with missile launches, explosions, and footage from America's opening strikes on Iran. And then, just in case you missed the point, the word wasted flashes across the screen in red, the way it does when your character dies in Grand Theft Auto. The reaction to this video was immediate. Tina Monk is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University in the uk. She studies cyber warfare, and she says governments have always tried to shape public opinion during wartime. What surprised her wasn't that the White House made a video. It was the kind of video it made.
[01:31]
Tina Monk
It felt very appropriate in the way it was made, where you have clips where people are basically being attacked but sanitized. You couldn't see anything. Of all the bad stuff that happens during a war, it feels like war was turned into something that was okay, that was normal. People felt that it was a way of sanitizing war.
[01:57]
Dena Temple-Raston
But that White House video wasn't the end of the story because pretty soon Iran was answering in kind. From recorded Future News and prx, this is Click Here the show about how technology is changing everything. I'm Dena Temple Reston. Today, a war being fought with missiles and and memes. We'll be right back. Support for Qlik here comes from Nord Security. Here's the challenge IT Teams need to see what's happening in browsers, but they can't slow anyone down or disrupt their workflow. Nord layer browser solves this. It gives it teams full visibility and control over browser activity while keeping everything familiar and fast. For employees, two products work together. NORD layer provides the secured network foundation. Then NORD layer browser extends that into the workflow, managing web apps, sessions and data. The payoff? Every browser session becomes visible, controlled and secure. Company data stays protected. Access to sensitive resources is managed. Accidental data leaks are prevented. And it works for all kinds of teams. Remote workers, contractors, people using their own devices, all secured without the complex setup or device management. Go to nordlayer.com Browser clickhere and unlock your 10% discount on Nordlayer browser with coupon code. Clickhere10 that's nordlayer.com Browser Clickhere and enter coupon code clickhere10 at checkout. Support for Click here comes from Quince. August is like the Sunday of summer, the perfect time to hit reset before the autumn rush. And for me, that always starts with my wardrobe. Quince proves you don't need a crowded closet to look incredible. You just need the right pieces. Quince specializes in effortless, high quality essentials like ultra soft organic cotton and premium Mongolian cashmere sweaters. I have a quarter zip cashmere sweater that I loved so much I ended up buying it in three different colors. They also have premium stretch denim starting at just $50 with the kind of perfect fit, structure and weight you'd expect from a luxury designer. Everything at Quint's is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just apparel. Quint's also brings that same everyday elevation to everything from a hotel quality bedding and bath to kitchen staples and essentials and thoughtfully designed furniture. Upgrade your everyday Download the Quint app for app exclusive offers or go to quint.com clickhere get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q-U-I-N c e.com clickhere. A few weeks after the White House turned an airstrike into something that looked like a video game, something strange started showing up online. Videos that appeared to be coming from inside Iran, which for reasons we'll get into, was strange all by itself. But these were strange in another way. Everyone in them was made out of Lego.
[05:40]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Hey orange pig. America first.
[05:43]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Oops.
[05:43]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Oh boy. That was the slogan you stole. But Bibi's pulling strings and you vote is getting cold.
[05:51]
Dena Temple-Raston
Donald Trump is a Lego man, complete with Trump Lego hair. Netanyahu gets the little plastic treatment too. Blocky bodies, stiff little arms, bright colors. At first it almost looks cute. Then you notice the leash. Netanyahu is holding it. And on the other end is Trump, down on all fours with the face of a pig.
[06:14]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Make Israel great again.
[06:24]
Dena Temple-Raston
We wanted to know who was making these videos, so we got in touch. The group behind them calls itself Explosive Media. At first we knew almost nothing about them except for this. Their videos were reaching an astonishingly large audience. Iranian propaganda in the form of AI generated Lego videos has been getting a lot of attention. Published almost daily, these detailed Videos with American and Western cultural references have taken the world by storm. One video alone, an anti Trump screed put to a hip hop track, had been viewed nearly 900 million times, according to Explosive Media, which raised two questions. Who were these people and how had they figured out how to capture so much attention? Explosive Media, it turns out, was tiny. About 10 people, they told us, mostly university students and recent graduates. Tina Monk says that wasn't the remarkable part. The remarkable part was that they seemed to have a much better feel for what people online actually cared about.
[07:33]
Tina Monk
They have been able to be very on top of what is happening and on top of what people are looking for, what people are concerned about. And that was not what the US government and the administration was able to do with their narratives. And you can see some of the
[07:50]
Dena Temple-Raston
things the White House videos mostly spoke to people who already agreed with the White House. And Explosive Media began the same way. Their earliest videos were aimed at supporters of Iran. One of the first came after a US bomb reportedly hit an elementary school, killing about 120 children.
[08:11]
Tina Monk
You saw the attacks on the girls school and how people were upset and was fleeing. And then you saw the government coming in, taking care of the population.
[08:20]
Dena Temple-Raston
Tina says those early videos followed a pretty familiar script.
[08:25]
Tina Monk
Basically, look at us, we are being attacked kind of narrative. We are fighting back because this is what we need to do, we need to protect our population.
[08:37]
Dena Temple-Raston
But then something changed.
[08:39]
Tina Monk
Rather than to continue the narrative about we are the victims, we are being attacked, we need to protect our citizens and then somehow change the strategy a little bit, suddenly they start to tap into internal issues in the us.
[08:56]
Dena Temple-Raston
Take Jeffrey Epstein.
[08:57]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
Now let's talk about Trump, the man painted in gold. You preach about moral, put the word on his back, but check the fl.
[09:06]
Dena Temple-Raston
In one video, Lego Trump flips through the Epstein files and beads of sweat start to form on his little Lego head. He panics, hits a big red button, and bombs start falling on Iran. Epstein wasn't really the point. It was the hook. Explosive Media had figured out that if they wanted Americans to watch, they had to begin with subjects Americans were already talking about. The first battle wasn't over what Americans believed. It was over what Americans would click on. Like this video that opens at a gas station. Cars lined up at the pumps.
[09:41]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
The price of your gas is the headline sound. The oil shock is coming to a pump near you.
[09:50]
Dena Temple-Raston
It cuts to families struggling to pay their bills, people turned away from medical care. It spends nearly a minute reminding Americans of everything that isn't going well. Then it offers an explanation. It's not you, America. It's the ones who lead. You listen to my heart.
[10:15]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
I don't hate the Americans who are living in fear. To the working class people trying to
[10:19]
Dena Temple-Raston
make ends meet, they weren't asking Americans to love Iran. They were asking Americans to see a bit of themselves in ordinary Iranians. The argument was simple. You're struggling, we're struggling. Maybe the problem isn't each other. Maybe it's the people running our government coast to coast.
[10:36]
Explosive Media Voice Actor
You're victims of the same machine that hurts us the most. So I wrote this track.
[10:45]
Dena Temple-Raston
And once explosive media figured that out, the videos got even more ambitious. They stopped just reacting to the headlines and started challenging something much bigger. The story Americans tell themselves about America. One video begins with Native Americans, then black Americans in chains. Abu Ghraib, Vietnam, Afghanistan. At the end one line, American progress built on bloodshed. It said, These aren't subtle messages, they're clearly propaganda. But they don't feel like it. They feel like entertainment. And T D Monk says that's the point.
[11:29]
Tina Monk
They function less like political communication. It functions much more like entertainment. So we have all these characters that we know from real life and they're put into this legal universe. We have familiar themes. We have running jokes. They're colorful. They have this fast pace. They are highly visuals and as always, this catchy music.
[11:56]
Dena Temple-Raston
You don't click on one of these videos because you're looking for Iranian propaganda. You click because it's entertaining and those little Lego guys are kind of funny. And then maybe you stick around to see what happens next. After the break, we meet the people, making them stay with us. Support for Click Here comes from Cerval. AI was supposed to free up your IT team. Instead, they're still drowning in password resets, laptop issues and broken VPNs. The same repetitive tickets every single day. That's not productivity, that's friction. And Servol can fix that. Just tell IT what you need in plain English and IT automates the work. No complex workflow builders, no consultants slowing you down. No six month implementations. That means your IT team can stop firefighting and start strategizing. The platform handles the repetitive stuff so your people can handle what's actually important. And it works. Cerbal guarantees you automate 50% of your IT tickets. Learn more or start a free four week pilot at cerbal.com clickhere that's S-E-R-V-A L.com clickhere servol.com clickhere if there was a big red button that would just demolish the Internet. I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is the Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life, and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. By the time we found explosive media, they weren't just making videos anymore. They were making something more like a series. Every new turn in the war became another episode. The same characters kept coming back, especially Trump. Trump as a pirate after the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Trump as a failed dealmaker after the peace talks collapsed. It was in effect, a television series that rewrote itself every time the news changed, which is a remarkable amount of television for a team of about 10 people to make, especially at the speed they were making it. And they told us this is where AI enters the story. Explosive Media agreed to talk to us over telegram, and we asked someone to voice their responses.
[14:49]
Explosive Media Representative
A few years ago, this speed wasn't possible because everything had to be done manually. But now AI has helped us create animations faster and get our voice out to the entire world.
[15:03]
Dena Temple-Raston
They told us a polished two minute video could now be made in less than a day.
[15:09]
Explosive Media Representative
Everything starts with ideas. Throughout the day we collect ideas, and when we want to make a video about the specific topic, we draw from those ideas.
[15:22]
Dena Temple-Raston
So imagine a 10 person writer's room watching news all day and collecting ideas for the next way to troll the United States. Except the writer's room is in Iran. At least that's where they told us it was. This is where we start to have questions about explosive media that had nothing to do with Lego. Like who exactly were they working for? They told us no one.
[15:46]
Explosive Media Representative
We're completely 100% independent in choosing our own intellectual direction and the topics of our animations. We take orders from no one. Everything we say is our belief.
[15:59]
Dena Temple-Raston
They said Iran's state media wasn't directing their work, it was just buying it.
[16:05]
Explosive Media Representative
Sometimes certain media in Iran buy our animations for broadcast, and among them, sometimes there are state affiliated media. This is completely normal, and any common sense can attest that this is a normal occurrence.
[16:21]
Dena Temple-Raston
Now, we have no way to verify that, and there were reasons to be skeptical. Some of the videos appeared first on accounts linked to Russia, before being amplified by media tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. But that wasn't the only mystery there was another one we couldn't explain. How were they getting online at all? Here was this little group in Iran, following the news in real time, uploading videos almost every day. They were talking to us on Telegram, reaching millions of people around the world, all from a country where the government had spent months trying to keep its own people offline. And during the war, Internet access had become even harder. For most Iranians, getting online was nearly impossible. But somehow, Explosive Media was doing it every day. So how are these guys still connected? The answer, it turns out, had nothing to do with the videos. It had to do with the Internet they were using. Explosive Media told the BBC it was working on what it called a journalist's Internet. In Iran, certain people are issued special SIM cards, often called white SIM cards. And these special cards continue to connect to the global Internet even when almost everyone else is cut off. Which means the blackout wasn't exactly a blackout. It really depended on who you were. The government hadn't simply turned the Internet off. It had just decided who got to have one. And suddenly a lot of things made more sense. Explosive Media had spent a lot of time criticizing the way the west portrayed this war. The spectacle, the memes, the war packaged as entertainment. Which left us with a pretty obvious question. Wasn't that exactly what they were doing?
[18:20]
Explosive Media Representative
So we asked, we're dealing with those who did more. Before they turned war into a game, turned war into a movie, they trivialized the killing of human beings. In fact, they moved into a hyper reality, meaning reality no longer matters to them. They constructed a reality outside of reality. So when this enemy of humanity, this enemy of children, this enemy of schools and universities, operates at the level of hyperreality, in the media war, we too must enter the game at the same level. Otherwise ordinary reality can no longer win this media war.
[19:05]
Dena Temple-Raston
To Explosive Media, the West had already changed the rules. War had become entertainment. Reality had become performance. And, they argued, they were just playing by the rules they believed the west had already set.
[19:19]
Explosive Media Representative
Western propaganda worked for a while. Western propaganda might have been believable as long as they didn't have that much blood on their own hands. How can they believe them when Western propaganda media have hidden the truth from people by covering up atrocities, by lying, and by not telling the historical truth about Asian nations?
[19:48]
Dena Temple-Raston
That's Explosive Media's version of events. And to be clear, we're not endorsing it. Their videos make sweeping claims about the West. They present disputed assertions as fact, and they leave out plenty that complicates their own story, including what the Iranian government is doing to its own people. Tina Monk Again, so what we can
[20:10]
Tina Monk
see with Iran, they have been suppressing them population. They're also been really good at circulating anti western narrative against the established society where they put themselves in a better light.
[20:24]
Dena Temple-Raston
So explosive media isn't giving you some unvarnished picture of reality. It's showing you what it wants you to see. Which brings us back to the bigger question about these videos. Do they actually work? Can a Lego video about Donald Trump actually change the way an American thinks about the war? Maybe, maybe not. But that may be the wrong measure of success because before you can change someone's mind, you have to get their attention and explosive media figured out how to do that. This is Click here
[21:06]
Recorded Future News Announcer
If you're looking for a daily guide to cybersecurity news and policy, sign up for the Cyber Daily from Recorded Future News. It serves up today's most interesting and important cyber stories from our sister publication the Record, and then aggregates all of the big cyber stories you might have missed from news outlets around the world. Just go to the Record Media and click on Cyber Daily to get all you need to know about the world of cybersecurity right in your inbox.
[21:38]
Dena Temple-Raston
Here's what happened in the tech world this past week. It's Tuesday, August 18th. The Trump administration is offering private companies a bigger role in fighting cybercrime, opening the door to something that has been tabooed now hacking back. President Trump has signed a national security agreement aimed at fighting cybercrime from overseas. Under a memo signed last week, private companies could conduct hacking operations against transnational cybercrime gangs, working alongside the Justice Department and Homeland Security. Each operation would need federal approval and would still have to comply with existing law. The White House says Americans lost more than $20 billion to cybercrime last year. But the memo leaves one potentially tricky question unanswered. What happens when the cybercriminals being targeted have ties to a foreign government? Critics worry that's where hacking back might turn into something bigger.
[22:38]
Tina Monk
For the first time, Taiwan slowed down its mobile Internet during its military exercises, practicing their response to what a Chinese
[22:46]
Dena Temple-Raston
invasion might look like. For 30 minutes, the island nation throttled mobile service as part of its annual war game. It was a dress rehearsal for what could happen if China tried to take the island by force. There were air raid sirens, empty streets, even a hospital practicing how it could move operations underground. And this year, for the first time, they practiced what happens when communications vanish? The drill comes on the heels of a cyber attack in July that used AI agents to break into government systems and steal thousands of personnel records. China is suspected of having been behind it. Flock cameras were built to help police track criminals. In Georgia, Investigators say three three former deputies used them to track people they knew. They're now facing all kinds of charges, from violating their oath of office to stalking, to requesting unauthorized information about people who they had personal relationships with. The deputies are accused of misusing Flock's license plate reader system to look up people in their personal lives, and there have been similar cases involving Flock in several other states. In response, Flock is tightening its rules. The company says it's cutting its recommended data retention period from 30 days to just seven, and by the end of the year, officers will need to enter a case code whenever they search the system. In Minnesota, though, some people have responded in another way. Flock cameras have been stolen or vandalized in at least seven cities, and some communities have decided to stop using them altogether. Flicker lights on silver sand
[24:32]
Tina Monk
Marching go with no command.
[24:36]
Dena Temple-Raston
That's Velvet Sundown, a band that racked up millions of streams last year. There's just one problem. The ban wasn't real. It was generated by AI. And now Spotify says it's going to make acts like Velvet Sundown easier to spot. Starting next month, some profiles will get an AI Persona label when the artist's identity, not necessarily the music, appears to be AI generated, and those artists will no longer show up in Spotify's editorial or algorithmic recommendations. Spotify says it will automatically screen profiles with human moderators making the final call. So Spotify may be getting better at filtering out fake artists artists, but bad taste is still up to you. Click Here is a production of Recorded Future News and prx. Today's show was written and produced by Megan Dietre, Sean Powers, Erica Guida, Zach Hirsch and Maya Fawaz. It was edited by Karen Duffin and Sarah Cavedo and fact checked by Darren Ancrum. Original music is by Ben Levingston, with additional music from Blue Dot Sessions. Our staff writer is Lucas Riley, our illustrator is Megan Gough, and our sound designers and engineers are Jake Cook and Jesse Niswonger. I'm Dina Tumble Raston, and thanks for listening. Support for this program comes from Recorded Future. In cybersecurity, the biggest risk isn't what can be seen, it's what gets missed. Recorded Future analyzes billions of signals to help organizations stay ahead of threats. Recorded Future Know what matters.
[26:26]
Recorded Future News Announcer
Act first if you're looking for a daily guide to cybersecurity news and policy. Sign up for the Cyber Daily from Recorded Future News. It serves up the day's most interesting and important cyber stories from our sister publication the Record, and then aggregates all of the big cyber stories you might from news outlets around the world. Just go to the Record Media and click on Cyber Daily to get all you need to know about the world of cybersecurity right in your inbox.