AI Is Fueling a New Kind of Political Propaganda

Summary

WSJ Tech News Briefing — "AI Is Fueling a New Kind of Political Propaganda"

Date: August 8, 2026
Host: Nicole Nguyen
Series: AI and the Blurring of Reality (Episode 2)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Nicole Nguyen explores how generative AI is accelerating and transforming political propaganda—at both a global and hyper-local level. Through viral deepfakes, AI-generated images, and emotionally charged video content, political messaging is being turbocharged in unprecedented ways. The show features expert insights from Georgetown professor Renee DiResta and Dartmouth professor Hany Farid, who discuss AI’s impact on trust, democracy, and our shared sense of reality. The main theme underscores the existential challenge posed by AI-generated misinformation: a society where no one is sure what—or who—to believe.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Viral Political Propaganda Powered by AI

• Example: Lego-fied Political Videos

  • Iranian group Explosive Media released AI-generated Lego-style videos depicting Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and military action. The videos went viral, shared even outside Iran via official state channels. (00:00–02:51)
  • “To be clear, the video clip has nothing to do with the actual Lego group… it was created by an Iranian entity called Explosive Media…” — Nicole Nguyen (01:17)

• Proliferation of Political Deepfakes in the U.S.

  • Deepfake of Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico singing about transgender children created by Trump-linked PAC. (02:51–03:02)
  • California mayoral race deepfake portrayed mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt as Batman fighting a Thanos-like Karen Bass. (03:22–03:37)
  • Not all are overtly parodic; some are subtle enough to potentially mislead. (04:04)

2. The Industrialization of Propaganda

• Expert Perspective:

  • “It didn’t invent propaganda, obviously. It just industrializes it. It makes it cheaper, it makes it faster to produce and more sophisticated.” — Renee DiResta, Georgetown (04:48)
  • AI tools allow propagandists to tailor content (appearance, language, emotion) to specific demographics nearly instantly. (05:05, 06:13)

• Examples Highlighted:

  • AI-generated robocalls in multiple languages by New York City’s Eric Adams (05:17)
  • Deepfakes in political campaigns: DeSantis PAC video of Trump and Fauci, foreign actors using OpenAI models for multi-language propaganda (05:17–06:13)
  • A 2026 USC study confirmed AI agents coordinating propaganda without human input (05:44)

3. The Role of Platforms and Virality

• “You can make very, very excellent content. But the question is, can you land it in a place where people are going to share it?” — Renee DiResta (06:50)
• The Iranian Lego videos succeeded because they were novel, visually arresting, and directly engaged with U.S. political discourse. (07:04–07:36)
• Their appeal comes not from deception, but from obvious, compelling satire. (07:54–08:05)
  • “We all know that Legos aren’t real… There’s no act of deception there.” — DiResta (08:05)

4. The Blurring of Truth and the “Perpetual State of Doubt”

• Deepfakes that look Real:

  • Fareed discusses not only memes, but AI-altered photos shared by official White House accounts—such as a lawyer’s mugshot, altered to show tears instead of a calm expression. (11:05–12:27)
  • The “meme-ification” of facts and the line between satire and deception is blurred.

• Quote:

  • “A few years ago, it might have taken a master of Photoshop hours to convincingly change that photo, but now it’s a 10-second adjustment using… AI tools.” — Nicole Nguyen (12:27)

• Satirical AI content, like fake “Trump Derangement Syndrome” videos and robocalls impersonating Joe Biden, contribute to confusion and distrust—even if they’re meant as jokes. (11:05–13:32)

5. Social Media as the Battleground

• Over 50% of U.S. adults get news from social media—higher for young people and those without a college degree. (09:08)
• For every breaking news event (e.g., Middle East conflict, U.S. protests), there is a flood of deepfakes and AI-generated images from both individuals and organized state actors. (10:10–10:34)

6. Eroding Reality and Democracy

• Existential Risk Quote:
  • “We are no longer arguing about policy… We’re arguing whether one plus one is equal to two or is applesauce.… That is dangerous for a democracy…” — Hany Farid (14:12–15:29)
• The main danger is not just being fooled by a single fake, but a widespread societal skepticism that undermines shared facts.
• “People are polluting the information ecosystem with fake content and then denying the real content because the fake content itself exists.” — Hany Farid (14:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote / Moment | |-----------|------------|----------------| | 01:17 | Nicole Nguyen | “To be clear, the video clip has nothing to do with the actual Lego group… it was created by an Iranian entity called Explosive Media…” | | 04:48 | Renee DiResta | “It didn’t invent propaganda, obviously. It just industrializes it. It makes it cheaper, it makes it faster to produce and more sophisticated.” | | 06:13 | DiResta | “You can make that avatar somebody who is speaking to them, who looks like them. It can be more emotional, more visually persuasive…” | | 07:12 | DiResta | “It is visually arresting. It is novel, right? It is very rare to see a government or a government linked actor doing something quite so clever and so culturally relevant.” | | 08:05 | DiResta | “We all know that Legos aren’t real. When we see those videos, we’re not being taken in. There’s no act of deception there.” | | 12:27 | Nicole Nguyen | “A few years ago, it might have taken a master of Photoshop hours to convincingly change that photo, but now it’s a 10 second adjustment using many widely available AI tools.” | | 14:12 | Hany Farid | “People are polluting the information ecosystem with fake content and then denying the real content because the fake content itself exists.” | | 15:29 | Hany Farid | “We are no longer arguing about policy… We’re arguing whether one plus one is equal to two or is applesauce.… That is dangerous for a democracy…” |

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00–02:51 — Example of Iranian Lego-style AI video, introduction of the topic
• 03:02–04:04 — U.S. deepfakes: Talarico and Pratt, political action groups and campaign memes
• 04:13–07:04 — Expert interview: DiResta explains AI’s efficiency in spreading propaganda
• 07:12–08:05 — Lego videos as open propaganda, not just deception
• 09:08–10:10 — The shift: most Americans get news from social media
• 10:10–13:32 — Hany Farid on the impact of AI imagery on politics, doctored photos, official channels, and memes
• 14:12–15:29 — The deeper threat: collective doubt, undermining reality, and social trust

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Conclusion

This episode paints a sobering picture: The rise of generative AI has made political propaganda easier, faster, and more effective, not just on the world stage but in local and personal contexts. Viral content—ranging from obvious satire like Lego deepfakes to plausibly real altered images—fuels confusion and skepticism, leading to a “perpetual state of doubt.” The greatest danger, as emphasized by the expert guests, is that our democracy is threatened not just by believing things that are false, but by doubting everything—including basic shared facts. Next week, the series will focus on ways to identify and combat AI-generated content.

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Transcript

[A]

From the Goldman Sachs trading floor in 10 minutes or less. Investors and analysts share timely analysis on the week's market activity. The markets podcast from Goldman Sachs Listen now. Earlier this year, a video of a Lego fied Donald Trump spread online. In this cartoonish video, Lego Trump launches a missile toward Iran, which is then followed by a wave of Iranian counter strikes. Then a group of ultra Orthodox Jews, also in Lego form, is shown fleeing an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv while the country's prime minister Lego Benjamin Netanyahu, runs to an underground bunker as American Lego soldiers are shown being brought home in coffins draped by American flags. To be clear, the video clip has nothing to do with the actual Lego group, the Danish toy maker that makes the popular plastic bricks children have been playing with since 1958. It was created by an Iranian entity called Explosive Media, which has said it produces content without outside influence. But the clip was circulated by the country's state broadcasters under the control of its military. And it didn't stop there. The videos were shared so widely they even reached my American feet. As you can probably guess, the Lego videos were created using artificial intelligence tools. Since then, as America's midterm elections near, there's been a wave of AI generated political content popping up on social media feeds in the US as well. Today we'll look at what happens to our sense of reality when political figures and bad actors use AI to fill our feeds with targeted, biased and politically motivated content. I'm Nicole Nguyen, personal Tech Columnist at the Wall street journal. It's Saturday, August 8th. This is the second episode of our special series AI and the blurring of Reality, where we're examining how the rapid rise in generative AI could be fundamentally altering how we perceive our world. AI slop is a global phenomenon, and it's a local one too, one that landed this primary season. If you're in the US you've probably come across a deepfake, an AI made image or video featuring an often hyper realistic impersonation. One notable deepfake showed James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, singing a rendition of My Favorite Things, praising transgender children.

[B]

Boys in white dresses with blue satin sashes, girls dust with hormones till they grow mustaches, changing the gender of all your offspring.

[A]

The video wasn't real. It was created by the Trump linked political action committee, Citizens for Sanity, in support of Talarico's opponent, Republican Ken Paxton. Over in California, a fan made video depicted Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt as a heroic Batman.

[C]

I'm just one man

[A]

battling a villainous Thanos like version of his political opponent, the incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.

[B]

This is impossible.

[A]

Maybe Spencer Pratt should have played Iron man because in this fight Thanos won. And if you haven't seen any of the superhero movies in the last decade, all you need to know is Karen Bass advanced to the November runoff. These are just a few examples of a growing wave of AI generated clips in politics. Not all of them clearly fake, like that showdown between Batman and Thanos.

[B]

So I study adversarial abuse, understanding how bad actors manipulate technology and social technology systems.

[A]

Renee Diresta is an associate professor at Georgetown University. You may recall hearing from her in last week's episode. She says the flood of AI content in our feeds is causing people to be unsure of what's real and what is not. That can result in a perpetually skeptical mindset and make people especially wary of videos that contradict their existing beliefs. All of this creates an unprecedented opportunity for propaganda makers. You've worked so much with propaganda. Is this technology making propaganda more effective?

[B]

Effective is an interesting question. It didn't invent propaganda, obviously. It just industrializes it. It makes it cheaper, it makes it

[A]

faster to produce and more sophisticated. For instance, it can be more directed to a specific audience.

[B]

You can produce propaganda that has people who look like your target audience in it, whatever your target audience is, without having to go out and recruit for a speake.

[A]

In 2023, then, New York City Mayor Eric Adams used AI to send robocalls to constituents in languages other than English, including Mandarin and Yiddish. In the last Republican presidential primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released deepfakes depicting Trump hugging and kissing Dr. Anthony Fauci. The following year, OpenAI reported that Russian, Chinese and Iranian groups used the company's models to create fake content, including comments on social media sites in various languages. And just this March, there was a new study from USC that found human posters aren't even necessary. An army of AI agents can organize and coordinate propaganda campaigns on social media all by themselves. One of the lead scientists said. Our paper shows that this is not a future threat. It's already technically possible.

[B]

You can make that avatar somebody who is speaking to them, who looks like them. It can be more emotional, more visually persuasive. You can use an LLM to refine the language, to ask it, hey, put this into the vernacular of the group that I want to connect with. You can do translation quite quickly. Real time translation in some instances. So again, it's not that it is new, it's just that it makes it more efficient.

[A]

Although it's easier to make. Diresta says ultimately propaganda is still limited by the way it's distributed, so you

[B]

can make very, very excellent content. But the question is, can you land it in a place where people are going to share it? And I think one of the most interesting examples we've seen of this in the AI realm has really been the Lego videos coming out of Iran, like

[A]

the one you heard at the top of the show. Diresta says the reason the Lego clips are being spread so widely is because they're compelling.

[B]

It is visually arresting. It is novel, right? It is very rare to see a government or a government linked actor doing something quite so clever and so culturally relevant. They are touching on content in the US Political domestic discourse. Epstein things like that. That is directly in the moment.

[A]

Plus the videos are capitalizing on the toys popularity. And the message behind the Legos is pretty straightforward.

[B]

They're very clearly anti the US political party in power, the political regime. And what they are doing is they are producing compelling content that is actually quite overt.

[A]

Oftentimes when we think of AI, we think of deception. We imagine being fooled by AI deepfakes. But DiResta says the Lego videos stand out because they are not that.

[B]

We all know that Legos aren't real. When we see those videos, we're not being taken in. There's no act of deception there.

[A]

The bigger problem emerges when the political deepfakes look more realistic, especially as they come across our social media feeds.

[C]

The Trump administration now routinely posts fake content.

[A]

More on that after the break. Foreign.

[D]

Hi, this is Alex Osola, host of the WSJ's what's News podcast. We bring you the biggest news of the day, from business and finance to global and political developments that move markets. If you're looking for more insights and tools to understand the latest headlines, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal. Visit subscribe.WSJ.com whatsnews to subscribe now.

[A]

Social media has become a staple of the American news diet. According to the Pew Research center, over half of US Adults surveyed last year said that they get news from social media, a stat that's been roughly stable over the last few years. That figure goes up for Americans without a college degree and, not surprisingly, for younger adults as well. Pew has also found that more people are turning to social media for breaking news. So as more of us get our news online, experts say generative AI content is remaking our geopolitical world. And fast as bad actors have access to tools to make more AI content at A rapid clip. We spoke about this with Hani Fareed, the Dartmouth professor and digital forensics expert. You may remember him from episode one. What are some notable examples of the way politically themed AI manipulated imagery has shifted that political conversation in a meaningful way?

[C]

Yeah, so on the politics side of things, we've seen quite dramatic impact of generative AI. So, for example, from the US invasion to Venezuela

[D]

Est,

[C]

To the violence in Minneapolis to the conflict in Iran and Gaza.

[D]

Oh my God.

[C]

As soon as these world events happen, we are inundated with generative AI deepfakes, fake content purporting to be one thing or another. An explosion here, a person being arrested here, violence here. And we've seen it across the boards. We where people either for ideological purposes, state sponsored actors trying to sow civil unrest, people simply trying to monetize are flooding the social media airwaves, if you will, with fake content. But we've also seen it coming from official channels.

[A]

Fareed is referring to the fake content the official White House social media accounts post to X and truth social media like this one from last month. The symptoms can be relentless. President Trump is shown wearing a white lab coat, offering a cure for tds, or Trump Derangement Syndrome. The video shows celebrities including Rosie o' Donnell and Robert De Niro, outspoken critics of Trump, saying they're looking for cures.

[B]

I really thought I was a lost cause. This was gonna affect me for the rest of my life.

[A]

Or another video which shows House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache next to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

[C]

There's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all.

[A]

That video was reposted on President Trump's X account and was viewed over 42 million times. The AI videos that the White House posts span a wide spectrum. Some are clearly satirical and fake, but it's also posted images that could be mistaken as authentic.

[C]

The Trump administration now routinely posts fake content of people who are being arrested. They change the face of somebody to make it look like they're crying, when in fact they were quite stoic.

[A]

Fareed is talking about a digitally altered photo of an attorney arrested for protesting at a Minneapolis church. The White House's official X account posted the image showing the lawyer's face contorted with tears. But in the original photo, she was actually calm and expressionless. In an interview with the cbc, the attorney said of the experience, they couldn't break me and so they altered an image showing me broken a Few years ago, it might have taken a master of Photoshop hours to convincingly change that photo, but now it's a 10 second adjustment using many widely available AI tools. At the time, the White House shrugged off the altered photo as a meme and deputy Communications director Kaylin Dore posted on X that enforcement of the law will continue, the memes will continue.

[C]

So it's being used in these sort of clearly propaganda like ways, but then in ways that are much more deceptive. And we're seeing that not just in the US we're seeing that around the world.

[A]

When it comes to seeing truth in online media, it's not just about believing what you see, but also questioning what's real. What a bunch of malarkey. We know the value in 2024. A voice that sounded like then President Joe Biden told New Hampshire constituents not to vote in the state's Democratic primary. Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference. It was actually a fake robocall. It's uncertain if the deepfake audio changed voter behavior. But zooming out, Farid says a greater concern is our new perpetual state of doubt.

[C]

I mean, how often have you heard, is that AI, right? Because that's the whole other side of this coin, is that we are seeing horrific images coming out of the Middle East. We are seeing horrific abuses and police brutality and human rights violations and everybody suddenly, well, how do I know if that's real? And so there's this double edged sword that we are now dealing with, which is people are polluting the information ecosystem with fake content and then denying the real content because the fake content itself exists. And suddenly we're all sitting around being like, well, I don't know what's going on anymore in the world. And that's very messy. What does it mean to a society and a democracy when we don't have a shared sense of reality, which is honestly sort of where we are now. And that is being exaggerated by the role of AI. I would say these are existential threats to society and democracy. We are no longer arguing about policy and the role of government and taxes and international aid. We're arguing whether one plus one is equal to two or is applesauce. I mean, that's the tenor of the conversation and that is dangerous for a democracy where we can have disagreements. Disagreements are good. I like disagreements, I like having discussions. But I can't argue about whether one plus one is two or not.

[A]

In other words, this isn't just about individual fake videos. It's about a systemic erosion of reality. When we can no longer trust our eyes and ears, even basic truths become debatable. We are moving from a world where our perception of reality is being fundamentally restructured by the very tools we once thought we controlled. So how do we stay ahead of the game? How do we fight back?

[C]

What you're asking me to tell you is how do I defeat my adversary while my adversary is listening to this conversation? That doesn't seem very advisable on my part, does it?

[A]

Next week, we'll tell you about some ways you can identify AI generated content. At least the ones we can talk about. And that's it for the second installment of Tech News Briefing's special series, AI and the Blurring of Reality. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang and mixed by Katie Ferguson. I'm your host, Nicole Nguyen. Michael Lavalle wrote our theme music. Our supervising producer is Katie Ferguson. Our development producer is Aisha El Musleam. We had additional support from Wilson Rothman, and Chris Insinsley is the deputy editor of audio for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back Monday morning with your TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.