The AI-generated images were suggestive in nature. One of them, shared by the PM as she rebuked the trend, showed Meloni wearing lingerie and sitting on a bed.

On her official social media profiles, Meloni posted: “In these days, several fake photos of me are circulating, generated with artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some zealous opponent.

“I must admit that whoever created them, at least in the attached case, has also improved me quite a bit,” she joked. “But the fact remains that, just to attack and invent falsehoods, nowadays anything at all is used.”

Meloni went on to warn of the dangers of deepfakes in her message. “The point, however, goes beyond me. Deepfakes are a dangerous tool, because they can deceive, manipulate, and strike anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot.

“For this reason, one rule should always apply: verify before believing, and believe before sharing. Because today it happens to me, tomorrow it can happen to anyone.”

Meloni blurred out the name and profile picture of the ‘opponent’ accused of misinforming his audience about the veracity of the images. Based on tips from other social media users and an analysis of the blurred profile picture, Eurovision News Spotlight was able to identify the profile as that of a Naples-based Facebook user with 2,300 followers who frequently posts political and lifestyle content including AI-generated material.

The deepfakes of Meloni appeared to have since been deleted from that page.

Women at higher risk from sexual deepfakes

Giorgia Meloni is not the first European leader to be impersonated by AI-generated deepfakes, but the sexual nature of the images highlights an issue that predominantly affects female leaders, reflecting the situation for women in the public eye more broadly. While AI-generated political content is ubiquitous across the world, sexually suggestive images are rarely made depicting male leaders.

Eurovision News Spotlight has previously reported on an image of Pam Bondi that circulated soon after Donald Trump’s election in 2024, purportedly showing her running in underwear. At the time, she was Trump’s pick for Attorney General — a post she held until April 2026.

The issue more widely affects prominent women in other public fields. A report published last week by UN Women found that women in public life are facing growing forms of online violence, due to the rise of artificial intelligence.

The report focused on female journalists, human rights defenders, activists, writers and other public communicators, and showed that AI-enabled violence — including deepfakes, manipulated sexual imagery/videos and other forms of image-based abuse — was intensifying existing patterns of harassment. Respondents to a survey carried out in 2025 across 119 countries reported that they faced victim-blaming and limited redress options, all of which ultimately affect women’s participation in public life.

Governments grapple with regulating AI use

Kalliopi Mingerou, UN Women’s Chief of the Ending Violence against Women Section, said: “AI is making abuse easier and more damaging, and this is fuelling the erosion of hard-won rights in a context marked by democratic backsliding and networked misogyny. Our responsibility is to ensure that systems, laws, and platforms respond with the urgency this crisis demands.”

Governments have been grappling with how to legislate AI as it grows exponentially in their countries’ social media ecosystems. In 2025, Italy became the first EU country to approve a law regulating the use of artificial intelligence. The legislation includes prison terms of between one and five years for the illegal distribution of AI-generated or manipulated content if it causes harm. Harsher penalties were introduced for those who use AI to commit crimes, like fraud and identity theft.

It came after the EU’s landmark 2024 AI Act, the world’s first legal framework for artificial intelligence. However, discussions on amendments to the laws, which will also govern industrial use of the technology, were subject to delays, even as the new rules were due to kick in from August 2026.

SOURCES

• Instagram. (2026). Giorgia Meloni on Instagram: “Girano in questi giorni diverse mie foto false, generate con l’intelligenza artificiale e spacciate per vere da qualche solerte oppositore…” [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). [online] Available at: “Girano in questi giorni diverse mie foto false, generate con l’intelligenza artificiale e spacciate per vere da qualche solerte oppositore…” [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• Hougaard, T.N. (2024). Photo purporting to show scantily-clad potential U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi running is altered. [online] Spotlight.ebu.ch. [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• UN Women (2026). Tipping point: Online violence impacts, manifestations, and redress in the AI age. [online] [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• Giuffrida, A. (2025). Italy first in EU to pass comprehensive law regulating use of AI. [online] the Guardian. [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• Shaping Europe’s digital future. (2026). AI Act. [online] [Accessed 6 May 2026].

• Haeck, P. (2026). EU legislators fail to clinch deal to delay AI law. [online] POLITICO. [Accessed 6 May 2026].

As the war between the Iran and the U.S. and Israel dragged near the seven-week mark, there were some signs of the sides returning to the negotiating table. But on the internet, another battle was as active as ever.

Trump and others in his circle are no strangers to posting highly political and even AI-generated content on social media. Now, Iran is retaliating with AI ‘slopaganda’ — a portmanteau of ‘AI slop’, high-volume content created by generative tools, and propaganda — with Iranian embassies around the world taking their cue from Trump’s style of posting to mock the American leader and reach out a hand to other countries in the West.

The posts offer an insight into the narratives being pushed by Iran in a bid to discredit the U.S. Many of them feature references to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 but remains at the centre of a series of high-profile sexual abuse allegations. Other recent posts referring to Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus show the speed at which Iran is able to respond to the domestic talking points in the U.S.

Since the beginning of the war, the AI ‘slop’ being pushed out across Iranian networks has had strong religious overtones, often depicting Trump and Netanyahu taking orders from the devil and the Iranian leaders bathed in celestial light.

Are the accounts real?

The patchy and sometimes non-existent verification system on X nowadays means that any account purporting to be official must be checked and confirmed as authentic.

Many of the accounts posting as Iranian embassies are not verified, or carry a blue verification badge, which can be bought by anyone on X.

However, the Iranian Ministry for Foreign Affairs has a webpage that lists all of the embassies and their corresponding X (formerly Twitter) accounts. The list confirms the authenticity of the accounts analysed here.

The theme of Epstein

Much of the Iranian pro-regime content since the beginning of the war has heavily featured talking points about Donald Trump’s alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein and the broader theme of the Epstein files. The Iranian embassies have been resharing a lot of this content.

On April 16, the Embassy of Iran in Bulgaria shared an AI-generated video depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding the Epstein files and urging Trump to dance on command. It appeared to suggest without evidence that Netanyahu was leveraging Epstein-related blackmail to force Trump to fight its war in Iran — a popular motif tying together a range of conspiracy theories across these two major stories.

The footage goes on to show Trump saying “I cannot do this anymore” before he is seen walking through red liquid in a ‘Graveyard of Americans in Iran’. A logo on the footage showed that it was not a direct original, but rather a reshare of a video by self-described ‘AI visual Artist’ Mujtaba Arts. Their account features several other similarly-themed videos.

The Iranian embassy in Tajikistan shared another Epstein-related AI video two days earlier, following a similar horror-blackmail theme. It showed Jeffrey Epstein’s head hovering over Trump’s shoulder and telling him: “Don’t fight it, Donny. We’ve been bonded since the ‘90s.”

It goes on to imagine that Jeffrey Epstein is controlling Trump and ultimately possessing his body, at which point he calls ‘Bibi’ and promises him “everything”. In this story, it is again Benjamin Netanyahu who is depicted — without evidence — as the holder of “tapes” that could ruin Trump.

Google’s AI detector SynthID picked up watermarks throughout this footage, indicating that it was at least partially made using Google’s AI tools.

The video bears a logo for an account called TheForbiddenClothes, which posts AI-generated meme content about geopolitics and current events, and also sells merch featuring the same artwork. Much of their recent posts have focused on the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu, and the account recently also posted that the moon landing was “faked”.

Divisions over Trump’s Jesus image, papal feud

Donald Trump was widely criticised even among his own supporters for a recent post on Truth Social which featured an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus healing someone in a hospital bed.

Defending himself, Trump insisted that he thought it showed him as a doctor. The post was later deleted, although the president shared a new AI image of Jesus embracing him later the same week.

Some Christian followers of Trump were already being pulled in opposite directions; the Jesus posts came as the U.S. president and his administration were engaging in a war of words with Pope Leo XIV, the American-born leader of the Catholic Church who Trump is accusing of being too liberal and “weak on crime”.

The religious flavour to Trump’s latest targets drew backlash at home and in Europe. One of Trump’s closest EU allies, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, had already refused to back the U.S.’ war efforts in Iran, and then called the president’s attacks on the pope “unacceptable”. In response, Trump called her “unacceptable”.

As other European leaders broke with Washington over the war on Iran, and amid internal criticism from some quarters of the MAGA movement, it was a moment of particular disunity in the West.

The Iranian regime ecosystem has been quick to respond to these talking points. One video posted by the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan animated the Truth Social Jesus image, showing Jesus flying down behind Trump and striking him violently, sending him bloodied and flying downward into hell. The voiceover said: “Your reckoning has come.” The post racked up an enormous 23.4 million views in just over two days.

The Iranian establishment has also backed the pope amid his tensions with Trump. The parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote in a post on X: “Honoring Pope Leo’s fearless stand!”, adding: “@Pontifex leadership inspires millions – thank you for this light!”

The embassies were no different. On April 17, the embassy in Belarus posted a screenshot from Al Jazeera with the headline: “The pope has shown the world how to stand up to Trump.”

As the rift widened between the U.S. and Italy, and Trump threats that the U.S. would not be there for its European ally if Iran were ever to strike, Iranian regime accounts began posting about their love of the Mediterranean country.

The Iran Embassy in Thailand posted on X: “Why would we hurt Italy? We love Italian people, soccer, and food and we love Rome, Rimini, Pisa, Milan, Venice, Sardegna, Florence, Naples, Genova, Turin Sicily, and everything in between.”

The Thai account was particularly active, tweeting rebukes to the White House’s posts and resharing memes from across the pro-regime ecosystem.

Meme warfare

There are also more general memes about the U.S. president being shared by the embassy network, including other content by third parties that have no links to the Iranian regime.

A video posted by the Iranian embassy in South Africa featured Trump in a Desireless ‘Voyage Voyage’ parody, singing a song called ‘Blockade’. The video originally came from a German AI comedy creator called Snicklink.

Snicklink replied to the Iranian embassy post with a new AI-generated skit of Trump, in which Trump says: “You people are not supposed to publish my video.”

Separately, in a play on an old tweet containing a typo by Donald Trump in 2017, a post by the Iranian embassy in Thailand on April 13 simply said: “A wise man once said, ‘Open the strait or I will covfefe’. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Political messaging

Some of the messages appear to be targeted at the American public, playing into concerns about spiralling costs amid the war.

A post by the Embassy of Iran in Thailand included an image that looked like a ‘Trump 2028’ campaign logo. Instead, it said: “Trump $20.28 per gallon”. The caption read: “Are you ready folks?”

It was not an original creation: the same image was circulating in March on American social media.

And for the U.S. viewers, the messaging and meme tone in which it’s being delivered appears to be effective. A viral reshare of the post joked that “Trump should lift sanctions on Iran so Dems can hire them as their campaign messaging consultants”.

Iranian government working with content creators

Much of the content being shared by Iranian embassies appears to be reshares of third-party material made by pro-Iranian regime creators.

Among the most famous videos in this propaganda battle are the Lego skits, featuring characters depicted as Lego figurines, sometimes with a musical track in the background. The videos are produced and released by an account called Explosive Media. The Explosive Media videos have been shared by the embassies, as well as going organically viral on social media from Explosive Media’s own channels.

A BBC News interview released earlier this week with one of the creators of the Lego videos, known only as Mr Explosive, revealed for the first time that the Iranian regime is a “customer” that has commissioned the small team for a number of projects. In previous interviews, the outlet had said it was “fully independent”.

As with much of the other Iranian output, the videos focus on specific political and religious themes. The Epstein files feature heavily, as do specific incidents like Iranian military strikes on areas around the Gulf. The videos often fail to depict the situation accurately, but that has not stemmed their popularity in the English-speaking world.

An internet blackout is still affecting the majority of Iranians. However, Mr Explosive told the BBC that he is able to use “journalist internet” granted by the government. This description tallies with other reports, including from NetBlocks which monitors the blackout, that regime figures and ‘whitelisted’ influencers are allowed to access social media freely.

Claus Valling Pedersen, a researcher in Iranian culture at the University of Copenhagen, told Denmark’s national broadcaster that the decision to use Lego was probably strategic, as they have an innocence that fits the message of ‘good versus evil’. The iconic Danish bricks have as much brand recognition in Iran as they do anywhere else.

Danish news outlets including Spotlight member DR have contacted Lego for a comment, but they did not respond.

YouTube banned Explosive Media’s YouTube account, prompting the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei to post on X: “In a land that proudly hosts Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, and The Walt Disney Company, an independent animated YouTube channel — which had organically grown by depicting U.S. aggression & warmongering, and garnered millions of viewers — was abruptly shut down!!”

He did not mention that the channel is not entirely independent, and counts the Iranian government as a client.

A new Lego video showed the speed at which the creators are able to react to new events. It poked fun at U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s onstage prayer, which was actually a passage from Pulp Fiction, a day earlier.

• BBC News: We spoke to the man making viral Lego-style AI videos for Iran. Experts say it’s powerful propaganda

• DR: Danish toys at the centre of Iranian propaganda

Long-running themes repackaged

Iranian journalist and Eurovision News Spotlight contributor said the wider themes dealt with in pro-government content are nothing new, although they have been repackaged for the modern social media audience.

“Iran’s anti-imperialist image or language is not something that Iran has come up with in the past weeks or months. This is something that Iran has identified with since day one of the Islamic revolution,” she said.

“For someone like myself who grew up in Iran and studied there, the language and the message is exactly the same as we’ve heard and seen over decades. It’s just through more relatable images.”

So why are these messages gaining such a foothold in the West now? Aminolahi said that appetite has been building due to recent world events.

“There’s a momentum for leftist, anti-imperialist ideas. Mainly they became louder and more demanding from world leaders after Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Suddenly Iran found a lot of common language with those voices. The audience is already there, it’s just how to package that message.”

“I don’t think Iran has spent a lot of time on tailoring the message. Frankly, the message is very similar to what we’ve seen inside Iran for decades. It’s just the packaging that has changed a little bit.”

Aminolahi said that the success of these videos goes way beyond their creativity and comedic value for people who don’t like Donald Trump; they also appeal due to confirmation bias.

“It resonates because of a lot of factors. A lot of people want to believe that the message they have in mind — let’s say, these anti-imperialist voices that are gaining this momentum — they have no means to understand or they don’t want to understand, for example, human rights abuses in Iran.”

“The idea that ‘this resonates with me, this validates what I think, so this must be the truth’ — that plays a role because of many different world events.”

The world watched in awe on Monday, March 6, as four Artemis II astronauts on board NASA’s Orion capsule — named Integrity — flew further than any humans have ever gone before, travelling around the dark side of the moon before beginning their return back to earth.

It was NASA’s first lunar flyby in more than 50 years, and despite no moon landing, it marked yet another ‘giant leap’ for space travel and humanity’s understanding of the lunar surface.

The extraordinary story sparked a huge public appetite for videos showing every aspect of the mission, from breathtaking imagery of outer space to details about quotidian life aboard a space capsule — like how to use the toilet.

While NASA and the onboard crew have shared lots of content about the expedition, the nature of the travel and breaks in connectivity has meant that there were times during the mission where little new visual material was available, creating the perfect breeding ground for false material to pop up.

On top of that, the moon has remained a staple in the world of modern conspiracy theories. Ever since the first moon landing, false claims have abounded that it was all a sham filmed inside a soundstage.

AI slop adds to widespread misinformation

The term ‘AI slop’ was coined in recent years to describe the high volumes of low-effort synthetic content, created to capitalise on the attention economy. As with all news stories in 2026, there was plenty of slop in circulation during the Artemis II mission.

One video made claims of proving that the mission was entirely staged. It showed the astronauts floating on wires and sitting inside a capsule in front of a green screen. One of the posts (archived) that included this video, which racked up more than a million views, was captioned: “Stop believing these tricksters.”

The footage was created using Google’s AI tools, the company’s SynthID watermark check tool confirmed.

Away from the conspiracy theory world, artificially-generated materials have also been affecting the photography world. Astrophotographer Damian Peach, posting on X, wrote that he had encountered “countless fake” images claiming to be from the Artemis II mission.

He wrote: “Social media is fast becoming a platform where deceptional grift is allowed to run unchecked. Many of these posts have bigger engagement figures than the actual real images from the mission which is incredibly sad.”

Former British MP shares conspiracy theory content

Former British MP Andrew Bridgen shared with his 361,000 followers a pair of side-by-side images (archived) claiming to be from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 and the Artemis II mission in 2026. The images are almost indistinguishable.

In the caption, he wrote: “It’s a remarkable coincidence that the Earth was exactly the same orientation to the moon with exactly the same cloud coverage when these two pictures were taken 68 years apart. Am I now a coincidence theorist ?”

There are a number of issues with the claims. Firstly, the image on the left is not from the Apollo 8 mission, but an edited version based on an original photo from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 — the first human landing on the moon. Visual analysis of the cloud pattern and visible landmasses on the Earth show that it is a match. The real version is available on NASA’s website.

The image on the right of the collage is clearly the same image as that on the left, but zoomed in and edited to include an apparent window frame around the edges. While the collage seems to be based on the real NASA photograph from 1969, Google’s SynthID can detect an AI watermark across most of the image, further explaining any differences between the two versions and the original.

None of these images match any of those captured during the recent Artemis II mission.

AI spliced video draws on real pictures

A viral video showed the four crew members of the Artemis II mission cheering and waving at the camera, before it pans to the window, where the Earth was visible in the distance.

A post on X featuring the video that racked up over a million views posed the question: “If there were 4 astronauts on the Artemis II mission, who was filming? Did the camera make that movement, ending in a close-up on Earth, because of zero gravity?”

The X user raises a valid question, despite the fact that the footage is very sophisticated and nothing immediately appears amiss.

The truth reveals a far more sophisticated approach to AI-manipulated content than the types of entirely AI-generated videos we have often analysed in the past.

OSINT analyst Tal Hagin, who frequently posts analysis of online content to his social media account, shared his assessment that the video is an AI-spliced item drawing on two real pieces of content: NASA’s footage of the astronauts waving and a still image of the Earth seen outside the window of the space shuttle.

AI splicing is where artificial intelligence is used to arrange and join different videos together into one sequence. In this case, the first section draws from a real video, while the second scene showing the Earth outside originally came from a still image. The evidence suggests that the middle section — the pan between the astronauts and the window — was entirely AI-generated and created to join the two shots together.

• Read Tal Hagin’s full X thread analysis here.

Moon hoaxes circulating since 1969

Despite all the advances the world has made in space travel over the last century, there are still many who don’t believe that humans really landed on the moon in 1969.

On July 20 of that year, NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission. The misinformation surrounding that mission, as well as discourse around the assassination of JFK earlier the same decade, formed the roots of the modern American conspiracy culture that still endures today.

There are several details of the original moon landing that have continued to come under scrutiny by conspiracy-minded sceptics. Why was the U.S. flag planted on the moon waving despite no wind nor air? How were the astronauts able to leave footprints on the lunar surface when it is so dry? Why are there no stars in the images the 1969 crew brought back to Earth? And are the shadows of the astronauts inconsistent in the images of them on the moon?

These suspicions and more have been debunked hundreds of times since the conspiracy theories were formed. Still, they recirculate every time there is a new space mission, especially one involving the moon. For instance, the questions about the lack of stars emerged once again this week.

Many of the theories stem from a lack of understanding about the atmosphere and minerals on the moon. The more limited capabilities of cameras — as well as how varied light sources affect their function — offer more explanations about some of the most commonly asked questions.

The swift improvement in AI technology is a gift for moon misinformation on two fronts: it’s ideal for those who wish to make and spread fakes, while conspiracy theorists can sow the seed of doubt with claims that any agency or official person could themselves be using AI.

Whatever the cause of the scepticism surrounding visits to the moon, it’s clear that nearly 60 years on from the first lunar landing, the desire to question or challenge this greatest of human feats is alive and well.

Read more member stories about the Artemis II mission:

• RTVE: Man's arrival on the Moon in 1969: hoaxes and falsehoods that have circulated ever since

• RTVE: Artificial intelligence and disinformation about the Artemis II mission: it's real, not a recreation

• 3CAT: We reached the Moon: from denialism to evidence of the most unusual journey

• 3CAT: A chroma key or images made with AI: false rumours spread about the Artemis mission

SOURCES

• Bbc.com. (2026). Watch: How will the Artemis astronauts go to the toilet in space? [online] [Accessed 7 Apr. 2026].

• Flannery, M. (2024). Series of images showing ‘faked’ moon landing were AI-generated. [online] Spotlight.ebu.ch. [Accessed 7 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: If there were 4 astronauts on the Artemis II mission, who was filming? [Accessed 8 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). NASA (2026). Available at: "We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now. It's a beautiful sight." [Accessed 8 Apr. 2026].

• NASA. (2026). Artemis II Looking Back at Earth - NASA. [online] [Accessed 8 Apr. 2026].

• Portero, M., Navarro Sorolla, M. (2026). Llegada del hombre a la Luna en 1969: bulos y falsedades que circulan desde entonces. RTVE.es. [online] [Accessed 8 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: A sample of the countless fake AI generated images claiming to be from the Artemis II mission. [Accessed 9 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: “All this Fake NASA 💩 with AI and CGI and green screens. Stop believing these tricksters” Accessed 9 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: “Not one star. 60 years of technological progress with cameras… And not one star. I’ve heard all the explanations for this. None make any sense.” [Accessed 9 Apr. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: It’s a remarkable coincidence that the Earth was exactly the same orientation to the moon with exactly the same cloud coverage when these two pictures were taken 68 years apart. Am I now a coincidence theorist ? [Accessed 9 Apr. 2026].

• NASA. (2023). Apollo 11 Mission image - View of moon limb,with Earth on the horizon,Mare Smythii Region - NASA. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Apr. 2026].

U.S. President Donald Trump shared a video on his Truth Social account at 8:50 p.m. on Monday (U.S. Eastern Time). The clip was posted without any caption, but came as the U.S. had reportedly struck a location in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

The nighttime footage shows several explosions and a mushroom cloud in the sky. The official quoted by the WSJ confirmed that the video captured the overnight U.S. strikes in Isfahan.

Verifying the strike

The nature of the video does not allow for independent verification, and there is little available visual information to allow for geolocation.

However, no examples of older use of the clip were found by Eurovision News Spotlight, helping to establish that the incident shown in the video was in fact recent.

Accounts that frequently share footage from eyewitnesses inside Iran had also posted about the bombing in Isfahan overnight. A higher quality version of the same clip posted by Trump was shared by @mamlekate on X almost 50 minutes before the Truth Social post went out.

Vahid, a prominent online activist who has been documenting the protest movements and war in Iran with footage sent directly to him, also shared a few different clips showing explosions. One video showed a mushroom cloud with illuminated explosions to its right — which appeared to match the scene in the video shared by Trump and @mamlekate.

Finding the location

Attempts have been made to geolocate the ammunition depot hit by the strike, with social media users suggesting it occurred in the southwest part of Isfahan.

Other circulating videos described as showing the Isfahan strikes can add insight about the general location. Another video on social media, described as showing the overnight explosions in Isfahan and shot from another angle, showed a mosque in the foreground.

The mosque appears to be a visual match for Mosalla Mosque, which has a curved ceiling, a large dome, and a series of columns at either end of the structure, which can be seen on Google Maps.

That mosque, while more central, is also in south Isfahan. The angle from which we are seeing the explosions also suggest they were lighting up the sky further south, which is the general location of a mountain ridge that could match that seen in Trump’s video and other views identified by OSINT social media users.

Despite these clues pointing to southwest Isfahan as being the location of the strikes, Eurovision News Spotlight was still unable to pinpoint the exact location at the time of writing.

Trump’s use of social media

Although U.S. President Donald Trump shared the clip, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that neither he nor any U.S. employees are the owners of the video, which is likely to have been filmed by an eyewitness, circulated on social media, and was later shared with Trump.

Traditionally, media releases by a figure like the U.S. president would automatically be considered as confirmation or verification of an incident. However, much of that has changed under Donald Trump, who, since entering politics, has become known for his relaxed use of social media.

The U.S. president has long pushed the limits between the real and the unreal, often using AI-generated memes to mock his critics or present his vision for the U.S. — or at times the world.

There have been repeated instances of the president posting questionable or outright false claims and content, which is important context for how to approach the verification of a new, uncaptioned video of such apparent importance.

In this case, an official had to be asked whether the material was genuine, which gives a sense of how news outlets are approaching the president’s no-context musings and content reshares.

CLAIM: Videos purported to show damage and missile impacts in Israel amid its war with Iran. Unverified rumours accompanied them about the purported deaths of high-profile Israelis.
BACKGROUND: Little information about the impact of Iranian attacks in Israel was emerging, and the country is known to have a strong air defence system and a military censor.
METHOD: Reverse image searches revealed videos to be old and unrelated to the war. No official communication was released to confirm the deaths of any high-profile figures.
RATING: Videos being shared claiming to show damage and fires in Israel were false.

As the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran entered its second week, unverified rumours began circulating on social media that Israel has been hit harder than had previously been thought.

The speculation came amid continued Iranian drone and missile attacks on Israel as well as countries in the Gulf region. While evidence of significant damage was emerging from Iran, where the U.S. and Israel were striking, there was little indication that the Iranian attacks against Israel were having as much of an impact.

Since the start of the war with Iran on February 28, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies — an independent think thank affiliated with Tel Aviv university — puts the deaths in Israel at 14, 12 of whom were civilians and two soldiers. More than 2,600 people have been injured in Israel so far, the institute reported.

Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system is known to be among the world’s most effective. The Israeli military was posting frequent alerts that were being sent to phones across the country, warning residents to retire to bomb shelters amid incoming attacks.

There are international journalists in Israel and news reports are coming out of the country, but all journalists and members of the public are subject to a military censor. The rules for the censor relate to the prohibition of broadcasting material that could pose a national security threat or reveal sensitive information.

A report by CNN, which operates in Israel, outlined that the rules are “particularly sensitive during wartime”, adding: “The military censor has made clear that broadcasting any images that reveal the location of interceptor missiles or military sites hit by enemy projectiles is forbidden, especially in live broadcasts.”

While Israel is not the only country to impose restrictions on news media during a war, it is perhaps this system that has fanned widespread rumours that there has been far more damage in the country than has been openly revealed.

Rumours of political figures’ homes under attack

This week, one of the big themes on social media has related to this suspected undisclosed damage. Some of the posts have gone further, with claims that senior political figures and their families have been targeted in the attacks.

One video that circulated widely across multiple accounts on English social media and on Farsi and Arabic language channels showed a house on fire, with captions saying that Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Iddo Netanyahu had been killed after Iranian missile strikes on his family home.

The video is old and unrelated to the current war. A reverse image search revealed it was posted on Facebook on February 10, with a caption that it showed Park Place in Galloway, New Jersey. From there, the house is easy to geolocate on Google Maps.

Videos from recent years are frequently shared with claims they shows new events, but occasionally very old footage is used for disinformation. On March 9, a video that is almost 25 years old was shared with claims it showed Benjamin Netanyahu’s house after a drone and hypersonic missile attack (post archived here).

The footage actually showed sparks and smoke pouring from New York’s World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

Another wide-reaching hoax involved claims that Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli Minister of National Security, had been killed or injured. Some posts across social media even spread rumours that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been killed. No official statement was released to address the rumours, nor had any trusted news sources reported on any harm to Ben-Gvir or the Netanyahus.

Benjamin Netanyahu has frequently appeared in the media since these claims emerged, and has been releasing video statements via his official channels.

Some of the claims included more detail, such as that Ben-Gvir had purportedly been involved in a ‘car crash’ but that it was a cover-up for an Iranian missile strike on his home. This post outlining that claim had 1.3 million views alone, while another — by the same uploader as the house fire example — had 3 million views.

The car crash theory did not come from nowhere; in 2024, Ben-Gvir was injured in an accident that saw his car flip over. When searching posts on X about Ben-Gvir’s purported ‘death’, old posts relating to that car crash appeared in search results.

Late on March 10, after hours of viral claims about his alleged death, Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on X “I'm alive,” and directed an expletive towards those who claimed otherwise.

Other alleged damage in Israel

There were also more general false claims that images and videos showed damage and fires in Israel.

A video circulating late on Sunday night and throughout Monday showed a gigantic fire engulfing a building on a city street, and was captioned: “Firefighting efforts continue in Tel Aviv, aglow from Iranian missiles.”

The footage was real, but it actually showed flames erupting from a historic train station building in Glasgow, Scotland on March 8. A huge fire engulfed the station after originating in a nearby vape shop, making headlines around the same time as the claims emerged.

Another dramatic video showing flames ripping through a building block was captioned as showing “Israel’s capital, Tel Aviv, has been destroyed by an Iranian attack”. A video post on X elaborated, saying early on March 10: “Tonight Tel Aviv has received the impact of hundreds of high-payload missiles (+1000kg) The consequence is that the city is in flames and without power Israel threatens 5 years in prison for anyone who records these images.”

@lipes232LOKAL UPDATE -- Malam yang mencekam di Tel Aviv. Sirine meraung tak henti-henti di seluruh penjuru kota saat ratusan rudal Iran mencoba menembus sistem pertahanan udara. Langit yang biasanya penuh lampu gedung, kini berubah jadi arena intersepsi rudal yang mengerikan. Lalu lintas lumpuh, warga berlarian mencari bunker perlindungan, dan suara ledakan menggelegar di atas gedung-gedung tinggi. Situasi benar-benar di luar kendali. Apakah sistem pertahanan udara mampu menahan gelombang serangan berikutnya? Al Jazeera #LokalFeeds

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Despite high viewership and supportive comments on TikTok, this was another falsely captioned video. Eurovision News Spotlight found snippets of the same video that predates the war, like this version uploaded to Instagram on January 31.

Many more examples of miscaptioned or false images, some AI-generated, showed destroyed urban landscapes and flames rising from alleged strikes, and were shared with captions suggesting they showed places in Israel.

With the conflict now moving past its initial stages and both sides claiming wins, any declarations of disproportionate damage that are not being reported by trusted sources deserve extra scrutiny.

SOURCES

• Askew, J. (2024). What are Israel’s air defences? And why are they so effective? [online] euronews. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Liebermann, O. (2026). How international news outlets report under Israel’s military censor during wartime. [online] CNN. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: “The IDF identified that a short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel…” [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Iddo Netanyahu has lost his life after Iranian missile strikes on Netanyahu’s family home. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Facebook.com. (2016). Facebook. [online] Available at: Happening Now: Park Place, Galloway, NJ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Spender, T. (2024). Ben-Gvir, Israeli far-right minister, in car accident. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: BREAKING NEWS ‘israeli’ media unconfirmed reports Itamar Ben Gvir involved in ‘car crash’ when he has actually been killed in an Iranian missile strike on his home. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: So the Israeli media reports Itamar Ben‑Gvir died in a “car crash,” while in fact he’s been obliterated by an Iranian missile strike on his home..... [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Firefighting efforts continue in Tel Aviv, aglow from Iranian missiles. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Geddes, J. (2026). Huge fire at Glasgow Central Station prompts evacuations as building collapses. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Tiktok.com. (2026). Available at: LOKAL UPDATE -- A tense night in Tel Aviv. Sirens wailed incessantly throughout the city as hundreds of Iranian missiles tried to penetrate air defense systems. TikTok - Make Your Day. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Tonight Tel Aviv has received the impact of hundreds of high-payload missiles (+1000kg)… [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Instagram. (2017). Available at: @mohamedsadaka109: #حريق_الزرايب. [online] [Accessed 10 Mar. 2026].

• Youtube.com. (2026). Available at: Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich in a statement to the media [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

• Youtube.com. (2026). Available at: Scott Myers’ WTC Footage (Enhanced Video/Audio & Doubled FPS) [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

• INSS. (2026). Dashboard: The Military Campaign Against Iran | INSS. [online] [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

On the war’s first day, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated along with other key figures from his regime. While the initial attacks were concentrated in Iran and early retaliations targeted U.S. and Israel-related sites in the Middle East, the conflict quickly widened — with Israel focusing on Lebanon and Iran targeting Gulf states. The impact was soon felt in locations across the region and even further afield.

Just five days in, the impact of AI-generated content and false claims circulating on social media was already being keenly felt. False material was being shared as real, and real images were being incorrectly flagged as false.

US and Israeli attack on Iran unleashes flood of fakes

The accelerating quality of AI models and the proliferation of AI-generated material in recent months created the perfect conditions for any new war to become a key target for fake material, muddying the waters of what we can trust coming out of a conflict zone.

BBC Verify’s Shayan Sardarizadeh, who has been following and live-posting throughout the war to debunk fakes and verify real footage, said early on March 4 that “this war might have already broken the record for the highest number of AI-generated videos and images that have gone viral during a conflict”.

His daily threads compiling the war misinformation have covered aspects across the whole region. One viral clip claimed to show the aftermath of a drone attack on the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but in reality it showed an earlier, unrelated car accident in Riyadh. That clip was reshared by high-profile accounts, helping to further spread the false claim.

Even official accounts require close inspection, particularly in times of war. The official account for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a 72-second video on social media in which he appeared to speak Farsi, the official language of Iran.

In the clip, Netanyahu directly addressed the citizens of Iran, calling on them to soon “take to the streets” and “finish the job” of overthrowing the regime. The image was real, but the audio was AI-generated, VerificaRTVE found. Netanyahu doesn’t actually speak Farsi, and there are some errors with the lip-sync in the footage.

Many other Eurovision News Spotlight members have extensively covered the false content that has been spreading about this new war:

• franceinfo: Beware of fake images circulating about the war in the Middle East

• SRF: Fake news surrounding the Iran war

• VerificaRTVE: Fake news, photos and videos of the US and Israeli attack on Iran

• BBC Verify: Debunking AI fake images and disinformation about US-Israel war with Iran

• VRT nws: How badly was Dubai affected by Iranian attacks? The Burj Khalifa was not hit

Verifying deadly attack on school in Iran

Among the stories that sparked the biggest reaction of the first weekend of the war was the deadly attack on an elementary school in Iran, which killed at least 168 people, many of them children.

The school in Minab was the subject of three airstrikes, according to the town’s mayor cited in news reports. The outrage over the deaths at the school represented a flash point for anti-war activism in the U.S. The origin of the attack remains unknown and no party has yet claimed responsibility.

Collaboration between Eurovision News Spotlight members made geolocation of the school site possible. Satellite imagery of the area showed that the school is near two Revolutionary Guard buildings identifiable by signs in Farsi, Carlos Baraibar from 3Cat Info wrote. Eyewitness videos that were circulating after the attack allowed journalists to further confirm the area.

The incident also prompted misinformation, which in one case was even amplified by X’s built-in AI tool, Grok. For VerificaRTVE, Montserrat Rigall wrote about claims that RTVE and other news outlets had published a fake image to depict the destruction. The image was actually real, and contrary to claims, had no relation to a 2021 attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Social media users asking Grok to verify the image relied on its incorrect response that the image was old. “For hours, Grok insisted on its mistake and even called the media reports a hoax, while accepting messages from disinformation accounts that did not provide any evidence or rely on any source”.

Another fact-check published by Mario Pérez Galindo of VerificaRTVE highlighted a fake image of a blood-spattered schoolbag that was published by the Iranian embassy in Austria. Google’s SynthID detector tool confirmed that it was created with Google AI.

For VRT nws, Daan Nicolay, Tom Buytaert and Bram Vandendriessche compiled an article detailing a number of other instances of misinformation circulating about the attack, including a claim that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard took responsibility for the incident. No official source had made such a statement at that time. Many social media users also speculated that it would be unlikely for so many children to be at the school on a Saturday, but Saturday is indeed a school day in Iran.

Dubai fascination as UAE dragged into conflict

On Western social media feeds, there has been a particular focus on Dubai as it was sucked into the war via retaliatory Iranian strikes. The modern Emirati city is a major ‘expat’ hub and is home to hundreds of thousands of Europeans.

As the first strikes came down on Dubai, a wave of content spread online showing rockets hitting the Burj Khalifa and the airport burning. It was not immediately obvious which images were real.

For VRT nws, Bram Vandendriessche unpicked the web of videos. A terminal at Dubai airport was indeed struck, but some images were fake. A dramatic video of a rocket hitting the Burj Khalifa and causing a massive explosion was created using AI — “and clearly a slightly older AI model”, Vandendriessche writes. “The debris and smoke plume look like something out of a cartoon, and every element in the video is less detailed than in reality.” Adding to the confusion, there were also real videos circulating showing smoke near the skyscraper.

Eyewitness information coming out of the United Arab Emirates about the situation on the ground was unhelpful in quelling the confusion. We already knew that Dubai, which is a hotspot for influencers, had been affected by explosions, and tourists were sheltering in the parking garages of hotels due to nearby blasts. European governments were also arranging evacuation flights for citizens, illustrating the gravity of the situation.

Despite this, many Dubai influencers appeared to be posting the same message: that Dubai is safe and that people feel even safer there than they would at home in Europe. DW News covered the story, including the questions from outsiders about whether influencers were being paid for spreading a coordinated message.

Some well-known Germans were also posting to say that they had deleted material because they weren’t sure what they were ‘allowed’ to post. The UAE has strict rules on what people can publish on social media, and influencers in Dubai “must also follow strict content rules” and avoid posting content that could harm public order or the reputation of the state.

OSINT analysis shows war quickly expanding

After the initial strikes in Iran, the conflict quickly ballooned across the entire region. Amid fake videos and a difficulty in ascertaining the true impact, OSINT analysts were able to identify some of the early impacts, like a slowdown in oil tanker movements around the Strait of Hormuz and airspaces closing around the Middle East.

For RTÉ Clarity, Kate McDonald analysed satellite imagery released by Vantor which showed fresh damage linked to the escalating conflict. Images captured on March 2 showed damage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, at drone facilities in western Iran, at Zahedan airbase in Iran, and at the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, among others.

With the true scale of the impact yet to be revealed, OSINT analysis is one of the most reliable ways for the outside world to understand how this war is unfolding, and what areas may be coming into focus as the conflict develops.

Fuelled by viral AI-generated videos thrusting therians into the spotlight, fears mount that far-right influencers are exploiting the sudden interest in this community that is rooted in a small Internet subculture in order to ridicule and discredit marginalised identities and bolster anti-gender rhetoric.

Mass anxieties about an Internet craze spur local action in Guatemala

In Latin America, a few influencers’ have helped propel the topic offline and into real life, making news headlines that spread as far as Spain and remote Guatemala. Their campaign have been fuelled by AI videos garnering millions of views.

TikTok and Instagram videos of young people walking on all fours in public spaces have gone viral and have raised concerns among some politicians. Some are asking whether this is an AI-generated phenomenon, pure fantasy exploited by far-right advocates or a wider disinformation campaign.

The noise around this small community has even raised concern in the remote city of Huehuetenango, in the highlands of western Guatemala, where local authorities published a statement on Facebook on Monday, February 23, prohibiting gatherings of therians in a public square. Concerned by breaches of moral codes, they warned that “activities, exhibitions or gatherings” require authorisation from the municipality, it said.

“In this regard, activities linked to groups identified as “Therian” or other demonstrations without the corresponding permit are prohibited,” the statement read.

“Actions that disturb public order or violate moral standards and good customs in Guatemala will not be permitted.”

The ban was mentioned in a TikTok video captioned “Therians have arrived in Guatemala” and featured alleged TV news reports about this small subculture in public spaces. Ominous clips boast similar captions in other countries such as “Therians have arrived in Spain”.

Fake accounts and AI manipulation distort outside perspective

In one instance, TikTok and Instagram accounts purporting to belong to a Colombian teenager called Emanuel shared a series of videos of therians crouching on all fours at a shopping mall, with captions reading: “Therians have arrived in Colombia”. In one clip viewed more than 22 million times, a woman shouts that therians frightened her dog. Aside from therian content, the account also posts videos of the boy cooking alongside a guinea pig wearing a sombrero, demonstrating the use of AI.

In several AI-generated videos of fake therian protests, shared on Instagram by an account called Jaranor Films describing itself as a digital content creator, Spanish police are seen arresting people wearing wolf and fox masks. In one such video (archived here), a woman wearing deer ears and makeup shouts at a police officer in Spanish, “Respect our rights, respect that we are animals”, before he sprays her eyes with an orange bottle. Several glitches, audio and visual inconsistencies – such as distorted text on a banner – appear in the videos, confirming they are AI-generated.

A text distortion on a banner in the background of one video purported to have been filmed in Spain is an evident sign of AI use.

What is not clear, however, is why these accounts have emerged now or who is behind it.

A trend made in Latin American social media… and moving into politics?

Spanish Member of the European Parliament Irene Montero, in a video posted last week, blamed Argentine President Javier Milei of politically engineering the Internet frenzy around therians. She said Milei was blowing up what is neither a widespread trend nor a cause for societal concern but simply a way to fuel hate speech against transgender people.

Remarks made by Milei in a 2023 interview resurfaced in recent weeks in which he discussed gender identity and said: “If you want to see yourself as a puma, that’s fine, in fact, I’ll call you a puma if you want, but don’t force it on me.”

His comments were picked up by alternatrive online news websites in Latin America and shared on social media with claims it was said as part of a recent public statement.

In Spain, Google searches for therians rose sharply last week, peaking on February 20, according to Google Trends. Worldwide data showed a clear Spanish-language trend, with therian-related searches spiking. The number of searches with the key terms “que es un therian” and “therian que es” (meaning, “what is a therian?”) rose by +1,350% in February, compared to the previous month.

Internet searches on Google in Spain for the key term “therian” over the past month. Source: Google Trends.

Internet searches on Google in Spain for the key term “therian” over the last five years. Source: Google Trends.

Internet searches on Google worldwide for the key term “therian” over the last five years. Source: Google Trends.

In Spain, a rally billed as planned by therians drew thousands of people in Barcelona though most appeared to be curiosity-seekers with some far-right activists from the Vox party also setting up tents nearby. Very few actually geared out in animal outfits turned up. Meanwhile, unverified reports claimed violent confrontations took place. All in all, the event stood out for the estimated 4,000 people that came out to laugh at the therians and film videos.

Do therians actually exist?

According to a sociological study, the term “therian” was first employed in the 1990s, with usage picking up more significantly in the early 2000s.

On Reddit, the forum “r/therians”, created in 2010, claims around 28 000 members, describing itself as “a friendly community support group for therians, otherkin, allies, and anyone else who wants to learn more about the subject of therianthropy and therians themselves”. Otherkin refers to those identifying as fantastical creatures such as vampires, werewolves and elves.

A moderator of the Subreddit forum last week posted about the news out of Latin America. “The social media focus on our therian siblings in South America is far from positive right now,” they wrote and described the group as a “safe space”. Noting an influx of new members, they warned users not to share their location or country of residence publicly.

One anonymous user wrote only last week: “It’s so hard now to find recent therian posts that isn’t from people who aren’t from the community”.

Backlash from transgender people

The sudden spotlight on therians has angered many within the LGBTQ community. Some transgender activists say that while they are harmless, therians should not compare themselves or identify as LGBTQ people, as they are a form of spirituality, rather than a gender identity.

“Therians are more of a new cultural identity or a form of spiritual identity, but they have no validity in psychology, medicine, anthropology, or any serious science,” Camila D. Aurora, a transgender influencer who discusses social issues on her channels, said in a video earlier this month.

For her, contrary to transgender individuals, therians have no psychological basis.

“They weren’t born this way; animal dysphoria doesn’t exist, nor does anything like that. And it’s very annoying when they say that if the identity of trans people is valid, then the identity of Therians is too.” By contrast, she said, transgender people have earned rights “because all the sciences that have studied us converge on our validity.”

Final thoughts

While people who identify as therians do seem to exist, the current focus on them in social media circles seems to be driven by AI and magnified beyond its actual scope by curious onlookers and those seeking to sow divisions by promoting ‘anti-woke’ narratives.

SOURCES

Baldwin, Clive; Ripley, Lauren. Available at: “Exploring Other-Than-Human Identity: A Narrative Approach to Otherkin, Therianthropes, and Vampires”. Qualitative Sociology Review: 2.

El Español (2026) Available at: La moda ‘therian’ llega a Castilla y León: jóvenes caminan a cuatro patas, ladran y se sienten animales. [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Google Trends (n.d.) Available at: Search term: “therian” (Spain, past 30 days). [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: Camila D. Aurora ☠️ on Instagram: ‘Que hay de los THERIAN? #therian #camiladaurora’. [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: Jaranor Films on Instagram: ‘Manifestante podemos therian’. [online] [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: Jaranor Films on Instagram: ‘Unidad canina de Policía captura a therian y es enjaulada’. [online] [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: Jaranor Films on Instagram: ‘Policía Nacional unidad canina captura Therian’. [online] [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: Jaranor Films on Instagram: ‘Perro ataca a therian’. [online] [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Instagram. (2017). Available at: AJ+ Español on Instagram: ‘Ser therian y ser persona trans no son experiencias comparables.⁣ #Otherkin #Identidades #Subcultura⁣ ⁣’. [online] [Accessed 2 Mar. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: Hello i wanna talk in details about what make… [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: I think im a therian.[Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: I told her im a therian. [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: Its so hard now to find recent therian posts that… [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: My 11 yo told me she is a therian by handing me… [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: My sister came out to me as a therian. [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: Recent news from Latin America and how that… [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: What do u think caused ur therian identity? [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Reddit (n.d.) Available at: What do u think caused ur therian identity? [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Therian Wilderness Forum (n.d.) Available at: Therian Wilderness. [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

Youtube.com. (2026). Available at: ALTERCADOS EN ENCUENTRO «THERIAN» EN BARCELONA [Accessed 27 Feb. 2026].

U.S. President Donald Trump announced this week that a “massive armada” was heading to Iran. It came amid threats that he would use military power against the Iranian regime, which is currently violently cracking down on a protest movement that began late last year.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, January 28, Trump said: “A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln is a Nimitz-class ‘supercarrier’, which can carry up to 90 aircraft (warplanes and helicopters) and has an unlimited range due to the fact that it is nuclear-powered.

The carrier strike group, led by the USS Lincoln but including a number of other ships like guided-missile destroyers, is “currently deployed to the Middle East to promote regional security and stability”, according to U.S. Central Command in a post on January 26.

Among the vessels travelling with the USS Abraham Lincoln are the USS Spruance, the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., and the USS Michael Murphy.

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran rise and bring the looming threat of a sudden escalation, this comprehensive intelligence guide provides hyperlinked tools and technical data required for an OSINT investigation.

1. Battle card

A. US naval & air strike force (CSG-3)

• Flagship: USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) – Confirmed operating in the Arabian Sea as of January 26.

• Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9): Includes F-35C Lightning II (VMFA-314) and EA-18G Growler (Electronic Jamming).

• Escort Fleet (DESRON 21):

  • USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121): Acting as Air Defense Commander; conducted live-fire exercises January 23.

  • USS Spruance (DDG-111): Screening destroyer in the Arabian Sea.

  • USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112): Part of CSG-3 strike force.

  • USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119): Update January 30: Crossed into the Red Sea January 29; positioned near Eilat.

• Support: EA-37B Compass Call II (Serial 17-5579) deployed for high-end electronic suppression.

B. Iranian counter-measures

• IRIS Shahid Bagheri: Iran’s “Drone Carrier” (C110-4) anchored ~5 km south of Bandar Abbas as of January 27.

• IRINS Makran: Forward base ship positioned to support asymmetric drone/missile swarms.

2. Real-time monitoring dashboard

3. Technical identifiers: CSG-3 strike force

Vessels often disable AIS, but their embarked aviation assets (Seahawks/Ospreys) transmit hex codes.

A. Surface combatant identifiers

B. High-interest ICAO Hex codes (CVW-9)

• Stealth strike (F-35C): AE648A through AE649F (VMFA-314).

• Electronic warfare (EA-18G): AE4E5D, AE4E62 (VAQ-133).

• Carrier early warning (E-2D): AE5B34, AE5B35, AE5B37 (VAW-117).

• Logistics (CMV-22B): AE633E, AE634A (The “Mailmen” revealing carrier position).

4. Import ready: Potential target watchlist

Save as a .CSV file and import into Google Earth Pro.

Name,Latitude,Longitude,Description,Category
Natanz_Pickaxe_Mtn,33.7250,51.7250,New southern site (Kolang Gaz La); fortified Jan 2026,Nuclear
Fordow_Plant,34.8842,50.9981,Subterranean enrichment site deep in mountain,Nuclear
Isfahan_UCF,32.6500,51.6667,Uranium Conversion Facility; targeted in June 2025,Nuclear
Mehrabad_Base,35.6892,51.3134,IRGC Air Logistics Hub; F-14 station,Military
Bandar_Abbas,27.0603,56.1282,Naval/Drone Hub; current Shahid Bagheri anchor point,Military
Parchin_Taleghan_2,35.5333,51.7519,Site being encased in concrete "sarcophagus" (Jan 24),Military
Khorramabad_Silos,33.5813,48.1815,Imam Ali Missile Base; underground silo cluster,Military

5. Farsi investigative directory (Dorks)

Accidental explosions:

site:irna.ir OR site:farsnews.ir "انفجار" OR "حادثه" after:2026-01-25

Air defense drills:

site:isna.ir "رزمایش" OR "تست پدافند" after:2026-01-29

GPS/signal disturbance:

intext:"اختلال جی‌پی‌اس" OR "سیگنال" site:ict.gov.ir

6. Digital forensics and verification

• Chronolocation (SunCalc): On January 30, shadows in Tehran must be long and point north-east. Noon solar altitude: ~28.3°.

• Keyframe Analysis (InVID & WeVerify): Used to detect recycled footage from the June 2025 “12-Day War.”

• Thermal Confirmation: Cross-reference any reports with NASA FIRMS to detect thermal anomalies at nuclear/military coordinates.

A. Primary source intelligence (Social & Messaging)

• Telegram monitoring: Utilize TGStat or Telemetr to scrape hyper-local district channels. Focus on “neighbourhood-watch” metadata over state-run narratives.

• Censorship circumvention: Cross-reference NetBlocks and Cloudflare Radar to identify regional connectivity drops in cities like Isfahan or Karaj.

• Verification of ‘old’ footage: Use Google Lens to fragment video keyframes for reverse-image searching against historical archives.

B. Geospatial verification

• Shadow analysis (Chronolocation): Calculate time/date via SunCalc or use PeakVisor to align mountain silhouettes with video backgrounds.

• Industrial/nuclear markers: Monitor Natanz and Fordow for geological changes.

• Commercial imagery: Access Planet Labs (3m resolution) or Sentinel Hub EO Browser for post-strike burn scars or thermal anomalies.

Below is the specialised JavaScript Evalscript (Version 3) designed for the Sentinel Hub EO Browser. This script isolates high-heat signatures (potential strikes or facility vent surges) and flags physical terrain changes (burn scars or new spoil piles).

// VERSION=3
// Operational ARMADA: Thermal Anomaly & Burn Scar Detector
// Purpose: Identify high-heat vent signatures and structural damage

function setup() {
  return {
    input: ["B02", "B03", "B04", "B08", "B11", "B12", "dataMask"],
    output: { bands: 3 }
  };
}

function evaluatePixel(sample) {
  // 1. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) for surface scarring
  let nbr = (sample.B08 - sample.B12) / (sample.B08 + sample.B12);
  
  // 2. SWIR Intensity for Active Heat (B12 & B11)
  // These bands are highly sensitive to high-temperature thermal anomalies
  let heatIntensity = (sample.B12 + sample.B11) / 2;
  
  // 3. Logic: If SWIR (heat) is high, highlight in vivid RED/ORANGE
  // Thresholds calibrated for 2026 winter-arid Iranian desert conditions
  if (sample.B12 > 0.4 && sample.B11 > 0.35) {
      return [1, 0.2, 0]; // Active Thermal Anomaly (Vivid Orange)
  }
  
  // 4. Logic: If NBR is significantly low, color dark BROWN (Fresh Burn/Spoil)
  if (nbr < -0.2) {
      return [0.4, 0.2, 0.1]; // Surface Scarring
  }

  // 5. Default: False Color (B12, B11, B04) for structural clarity
  // Good for spotting new concrete or excavation patterns
  let val = [2.5 * sample.B12, 2.5 * sample.B11, 2.5 * sample.B04];
  return val;
}

C. Technical lead: Asset tracking

• Aviation: Track unlisted military movement via ADS-B Exchange (filtering for “blocked” or “UHB” signals).

• Maritime: Monitor “dark” vessels in the Strait of Hormuz using MarineTraffic or VesselFinder.

• Bunker buster assessment: Apply the Sandia Penetration Equation to estimate the effectiveness of munitions such as the GBU-57 MOP against Iranian limestone or reinforced concrete.

D. Investigative red flags

• Thermal hotspots: Map “gas cylinder explosion” denials against NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) to confirm high-temperature anomalies at military coordinates.

• Official narrative tracking: Compare real-time reports against IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) and Fars News to identify “routine drill” patterns.

7. B-Roll & visual verification guide

Priority: Distinguish between current ‘Armada’ manoeuvres and archived footage from the June 2025 12-Day War.

A. High-probability ‘zombie’ footage (Flags)

The following clips are currently circulating on Telegram/X but are NOT from January 30, 2026. Flag these if seen in newsroom feeds:

• “Carrier in the Strait”: Footage of a carrier passing a rocky coastline with green vegetation. (Likely 2019/2021 transit; January 2026 conditions are arid/hazy).

• “Isfahan explosions”: Night-vision footage showing orange sky-bursts. (Confirmed as June 2025 AD drills over the UCF).

• “F-35 launch”: Clips from USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). (Verify hull number 72 on the flight deck for the Lincoln).

B. OSINT geolocation lead: “The Armada”

If footage emerges of the U.S. fleet from the Iranian coast, use these landmarks for triangulation:

• Hormuz Island: Distinctive red soil/cliffs. If visible in the background of Iranian fast-boat footage, the vessel is within 12nm of the coast.

• Musandam Peninsula: If Omani mountain peaks are visible to the South, the fleet is in the Strait of Hormuz traffic separation scheme.

Sources

• ADS-B Exchange (2026) Aviation tracking and hex code database (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• Bowler, D., Flannery, M. and Aminolahi, M. (2026) ‘How to decode Iranian state media: A field guide for newsrooms and OSINT researchers’, The Agile Newsroom [Substack], 12 January (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• Cloudflare (2026) Cloudflare Radar: Iran Connectivity and Traffic (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• InVID & WeVerify (2026) InVID & WeVerify verification plugin [Software] (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• MarineTraffic (2026) Maritime vessel tracking: Strait of Hormuz (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• NASA FIRMS (2026) Fire Information for Resource Management System: Thermal anomalies Iran (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• NetBlocks (2026) Internet governance and connectivity tracking: Iran (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• Planet Labs (2026) Planet Explorer: High-resolution satellite imagery (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• Sentinel Hub (2026) EO Browser: Multi-spectral satellite monitoring (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• SunCalc (2026) SunCalc: Sunlight phases and shadow analysis for Tehran (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

• TGStat (2026) Telegram channel analytics and scraping tool (Accessed: 30 January 2026).

The videos are serene: an elderly East Asian monk, often in an orange robe, sitting cross legged in a perfectly manicured garden or inside a temple. Sometimes he has a book in front of him, and in all of the clips, he imparts a piece of advice or inspiration.

“The sooner you learn this, the lighter your life will feel. Most of your suffering does not come from what is happening. It comes from the resistance to what is. You fight the moment,” he says in one of his recent videos.

In another: “I see how tired you are. Not just in the body but in the place where the heart holds everything together. You have been carrying more than you show.” Sometimes, he refers to viewers as “my child”.

The sentiments are positive and generalized, but draw on Eastern traditions — particularly Buddhism, based on the clothing and statues seen in the background of some of the videos.

So far, nothing seems amiss. Except: Yang Mun is not real.

All of his videos are entirely AI-generated, created with Google software, as confirmed by Google’s own AI detector, SynthID.

Yang Mun is mostly popular on Instagram, where two profiles have 2.5 million and 1 million followers respectively. On Facebook, a page for Yang Mun has 1.4 million followers.

There is an ‘AI info’ tag on the posts, but this does not appear prominently and does not give further details on the type of transformation that has taken place with AI. For example, a genuine image or video that has been retouched with AI may also carry this tag.

Meta’s current policy relies on uploaders to voluntarily disclose their use of AI, which critics argue allows synthetic content to bypass detection systems.

The website for Yang Mun addresses AI concerns in its FAQ section. Under the question “Who is Yang Mun?”, the website says: “Yang Mun is a wellness philosophy inspired by Eastern teachings, offering practical guidance for emotional balance, nervous system calm and mindful living.”

“Is Yang Mun real?” is answered with: “Yes. Yang Mun represents a real wellness philosophy and authentic teachings. Voice enhancement tools are used only to make the message clearer and accessible to people around the world.” But SynthID clearly shows that the visuals are entirely watermarked as Google-made AI — and more than just “voice enhancement tools” have been used.

Furthermore, another page of the website features a different version of the FAQs. Under “Is Yang Mun a real teacher?”, the website states: “Yes. His work is based on years of practice with ancient Eastern principles and modern wellness psychology.” This contradicts findings from Google’s SynthID, which identifies the visuals as AI-generated.

Valuable income stream for creator

The huge numbers of followers accumulated by the Yang Mun brand suggest that many are not aware that he is AI-generated. Others may not care; his sentiments are motivational, inspirational, and relatively vague.

But this deceptive content represents a significant income stream for the creators. As well as any potential income from social views alone, a series of e-books — Time to Heal, Healing the Modern Soul, The Way Back to Stillness, and 30-Day Healing Journey — are available on the Yang Mun website for between US$10 and $50 before tax.

According to the website, more than 7,000 people have bought one of the e-books so far, and hundreds more have purportedly bought the more expensive package. The information on what is included in the package is vague, and users are immediately prompted to ‘Get Instant Access’ for a total US$61.45. The nature of the e-book content remains unverified, although the production speed of the brand aligns with AI generation patterns.

We checked the profiles of some of the few people who ‘reviewed’ the e-book on the purchase page. Most did not have profile pictures, but one reviewer who gave the books a five-star rating had a highly polished image with some irregularities in the skin, hair and eyes. HiveModeration, a third-party AI-detection platform, rated that picture as 99.9% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.

There is no clear information on the website about who is behind the Yang Mun brand, but online searches throw up some indications. An article described as a ‘paid press release’ was published on Yahoo!Finance on December 9, 2025, and extolled the virtues of this “movement reaching millions worldwide” while urging readers to purchase a Yang Mun book.

It was released by Shalev.H Marketing. A search for this marketing firm brings up nothing but other paid content promoting Yang Mun. However, it appears to be a reference to Shalev Hani, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “Digital Creator & AI Storyteller” based in Israel.

His LinkedIn page says that he “crafts AI-powered video content that enables brands and apps to scale effectively”, adding that he has “contributed to campaigns that collectively achieved over 330 million views across platforms”.

There is no mention of Yang Mun on the LinkedIn page now. However, a cached version of Hani's LinkedIn profile, indexed by Google and still appearing in search results this week, still lists him as the creator of Yang Mun.

Eurovision News Spotlight contacted Shalev Hani for confirmation. In a response, he wrote: “I’m not the right person to comment publicly on the nature or background of the Yang Mun character”, and added that he did not want to participate in media discussions on the project.

There was no evidence that anyone with medical or spiritual qualifications has anything to do with the project.

Religions and influencer industry facing AI challenge

AI is now a feature of almost every facet of the online sphere, but the subgenre of AI offering spiritual or mental health advice poses particular ethical questions. Popular discussions on the topic so far have mainly focused on the impact of AI chatbots; for example, in 2025, a group of leading psychologists in the UK warned that ChatGPT was offering dangerous advice to mentally ill people.

Mainstream religions are also grappling with the developments in AI. In 2024, an AI “priest” called Father Justin designed to answer faith questions sparked backlash and led to his ‘defrocking’ and the removal of all references to him being a priest.

A BBC article in October titled “People are using AI to talk to God” quoted a research fellow at the University of Oxford, the Reverend Dr. Lyndon Drake, as saying “AI chatbots might indeed challenge the status of religious leaders”, but he warned that “interpretations of sacred texts have often been contested” and chatbots mirror the biases of their training material.

In the content creator world, AI influencers are threatening to upend the influencer industry at large, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Human influencers cannot possibly keep up with the output that is possible with an AI influencer, whose videos may only take minutes to generate.

For years, verification experts have contended with fake and AI-generated images from war zones and major news stories. Now, even the lifestyle content we were once drawn to for its relatability could be lost in a wave of increasingly undetectable synthetic content.

SOURCES

• Instagram.com. (2017). Yang Mun (@yangmunus) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Instagram.com. (2017). Yang mun (@itsyangmuns) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• ‌Yang Mun. (2026). About Yang Mun – Ancient Wisdom for Modern Healing. [online] [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Yang Mun. (2025). 30-Day Healing Journey | Yang Mun. [online] [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Shalev.H Marketing (2025). Who Is Yang Mun? The Movement Reaching Millions Worldwide. [online] Yahoo Finance. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Hall, R. (2025). ChatGPT-5 offers dangerous advice to mentally ill people, psychologists warn. [online] the Guardian. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Christian, G. (2024). AI ‘priest’ sparks more backlash than belief. [online] National Catholic Reporter. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Arora, S. (2025). People are using AI to talk to God. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Venkatraman, S. (2025). Both of these influencers are successful - but only one is human. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

• Hivemoderation.com. (2026). Hive Moderation. [online] [Accessed 20 Jan. 2026].

Eurovision News Spotlight has verified the three new videos, which were captioned as having been filmed on January 10, 2026. They were shared late on Wednesday evening, January 14 (European time) by Vahid Online, a prominent Iranian online activist known for documenting protests mainly through footage he receives directly from Iranian demonstrators.

We cannot verify the audio, one of which includes someone loudly crying and another that includes singing. Vahid added a note to the post, saying: “The videos have reached me with sound intact. If they don’t sound natural, it’s because the sound has been altered.”

Visually, we were able to confirm the footage as real by comparison to previously verified footage from Kahrizak.

Outdoor location

In the first clip, a row of bodies is laid out on a blue sheet along an exterior wall. The brickwork on the wall and the blue sheet match a previous daytime clip described as showing Kahrizak on January 10.

Logo on body bags

We previously verified the green logo seen on some of the body bags at this morgue as that of Tehran’s main cemetery, Behesht-e-Zahra, which operates under the city municipality.

The logo is also visible on body bags in all three of the newer clips.

These clips were filmed at night and are therefore not as clear, but in previous clips, there was evidence that identification information was written on the logo or on the body bag, which would be used when identifying bodies. Some writing can be seen from afar on some of the bags in these videos.

Truck carrying bodies

The third and final clip shows a truck with the back doors open, which appeared to be in use to store or transport bodies as relatives came to find their loved ones.

This also matches a scene in the earlier clip captioned as January 10, which was previously verified by Spotlight.

When the camera pans to the right, a large bare tree is visible nearby, which is consistent with a similar looking tree in the same relative location to the truck in the other video.

Visual analysis also confirms that the man working to process requests at the doors of the truck, wearing grey trousers and a dark jacket with lighter-coloured lapels and trims, is the same man seen in the other clip, suggesting that the videos were indeed captured on the same day. Both were described as shot on January 10.

Death toll unclear

At least 40 dead people are visible in these three clips. Hundreds of bodies have arrived at the morgue in Kahrizak since January 8, footage of a screen that was displaying information for families at the morgue showed.

News reports anonymously citing Iranian government officials indicated that up to 3,000 people were dead. HRANA, a human rights group tracking the deaths, released confirmation of the deaths of 2,615 people. However, there are widespread concerns that the true figure could be much higher.

SOURCES

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
  Received videos showing bodies of people killed… [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• Mahsa Aminolahi (2026). Iran protest death toll: Tehran forensic centre evidence. [online] Spotlight.ebu.ch. [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
  12 received videos with this description… [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• ‌‌Telegram. (2026). Vahid Online وحید آنلاین. [online] [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• Reals, T., Palmer, E., Inocencio, R. and Stocker, J. (2026). Over 12,000 feared dead after Iran protests, as video shows bodies lined up at morgue. [online] Cbsnews.com. [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
  Received videos showing bodies, with this description… [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

• ‌‌‌Hrana. (2026). Day Eighteen of the Protests: Global Focus on Casualties and Mass Arrests Amid Communications Blackout - Hrana. [online] [Accessed 15 Jan. 2026].

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which cross-checks information from local activists, also stated that more than 10,681 individuals have been arrested since the protests began. The group expressed concerns that the actual death toll could be far higher.

What began as a protest by Tehran’s bazaaris over a sudden depreciation of the country’s currency on December 28 rapidly became the biggest challenge against the Iranian regime since the 2022 mass protests, widely known as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.

Protesters have been taking to the streets of Iran, defying the escalating crackdown, videos that trickle out of the country despite days of a near-total internet shutdown show. Activists and exile-based TV stations, quoting eyewitnesses and medical sources, reported that security forces launched a brutal assault using live ammunition and pellet gunfire.

On Saturday, January 10, a video began circulating online showing what was described as bodies of protesters in a makeshift morgue at Kahrizak, site of the Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre of Tehran Province.

A day later, more videos emerged from what appeared to be the same site. The new batch of videos were published on social media accounts of Vahid Online, a prominent Iranian internet activist known for documenting protests mainly through footage he receives directly from Iranian demonstrators.

Eurovision News Spotlight contacted Vahid Online, who said the individual that shared the videos told him they had received them from a friend. It remains unclear whether that person filmed the videos themselves and was seeking to remain anonymous, or was indeed distributing on behalf of someone else.

The caption accompanying the videos reads (Farsi): “Twelve videos received with the following description: These videos are of those killed on Thursday, January 8, Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Centre in Tehran. Someone who has recently managed to leave Iran brought them out. The bodies are brought in by pickup trucks. People are told to look through them and find their own relatives’ bodies.”

Vahid Online adds: “In the first video, the monitor showing the photos has text underneath them saying “Photo number XX out of 250”. The date January 9 can also be seen on each photo.”

In the first video a voice can be heard, making an announcement through a loudspeaker calling for the ‘relatives’ of someone believed to be a deceased person. The videos then proceed to show the exterior of the building where families have gathered. An architectural rendering of Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Centre matches what we can see of the building.

The voice of a man can be heard at 1:51 saying in Farsi “What was he/she wearing?”, suggesting families were looking for their loved ones amongst the bodies.

A green logo on one of the body bags resembles that of Tehran’s main cemetery, Behesht-e-Zahra, which operates under the city municipality.

The release of the videos shocked Iranian social media users. Iranian authorities do not allow mobile phones inside sites they deem to be security facilities, and in previous protest waves, have at times reportedly withheld the bodies of killed demonstrators from their families — a practice rights groups say was intended to prevent funerals from sparking further rallies.

Once the videos surfaced, Iranian state TV, IRIB, broadcast a report on Sunday described as showing scenes from the forensic medicine centre. The reporter mainly blamed “rioters” for the killings, and added that “perhaps among these are people who were trying to confront security forces” but the majority are “normal people”.

On January 12, further images and videos emerged from what was described as the Kahrizak site.

One of the photos matched the same site that was seen on the IRIB report.

A caption accompanying the video explained: “These images are from Kahrizak, taken on Saturday, January 10, 2026. Sent via Starlink by a friend who went there to identify relatives.”

Eurovision News Spotlight has heard two verified voice messages and a written text sent from eyewitnesses in Tehran describing large-scale protests attended by people from various segments of society. Eyewitnesses described a brutal crackdown on protesters and scenes of heavy clashes.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign minister claimed that “the situation has come under total control”, while state television showed images of the establishment’s supporters rallying toward Enghelab Square in the capital — a common move by authorities to signal domestic backing.

SOURCES

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Presence of the families of the deceased for identification of the bodies at the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center in Tehran. [Accessed 12 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
  12 received videos with this description… [Accessed 12 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Received images along with the above video with description… [Accessed 12 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Warning: Graphic Images Iranian media today published images from the #Kahrizak forensic facility… [Accessed 12 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
  Received videos showing bodies, with this description… [Accessed 12 Jan. 2026].

⚠️ NOTE: Given the nationwide internet blackout that began on January 8, 2026, many official links may be intermittent. Use connectivity monitors to verify if a source could realistically be transmitting from within Iran at a specific timestamp.

🏛️ 1. Official government & state entities (OSINT entry points)

These sources represent the official narrative and provide the baseline for state policy, judicial actions, and security operations.

• Khamenei.ir: The official portal for the Supreme Leader; critical for tracking high-level “red lines” and ideological shifts.

• President.ir: The executive branch’s primary communication channel for domestic policy and diplomatic engagement.

• The Official Gazette (Ruznameh Rasmi): The state record for all laws and, crucially, corporate registrations. Essential for identifying state-linked businesses and shell companies.

• IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency): The primary state-run news agency for official government announcements.

• Tasnim News Agency: Heavily linked to the IRGC; a vital source for monitoring security-sector narratives and regional military activity.

• Fars News Agency: Another hardline security-linked outlet, often used to broadcast “confessions” or state-sanctioned leaks.

Mapping Iranian state media control

While all state media ultimately answer to the Supreme Leader, the operational control is split between the “Traditional” state apparatus (Cabinet-level) and the “Parallel” military apparatus (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps).

MOIS vs. IRGC-IO

These two entities often operate as rivals. This competition can result in conflicting reports on the same event, which journalists can use to gauge internal regime tensions.

• The MOIS (Ministry of Intelligence): Answers to the President, but is led by a cleric approved by the Supreme Leader. Generally handles ‘traditional’ bureaucracy and civil surveillance.

• The IRGC-IO (Intelligence Organization of the Guard): A parallel, more powerful agency that answers only to the Supreme Leader. It has largely eclipsed MOIS in domestic security and ‘cybervigilance’.

🔍 2. Investigative NGOs & human rights monitors

These organizations provide the primary evidence used to counter state narratives and document human rights conditions.

• HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency): Managed by Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA); the most granular source for daily arrest data and prisoner documentation.

• Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI): Provides deep-dive legal analysis and advocacy briefings based on a robust network of in-country lawyers and activists.

• Hengaw Organization for Human Rights: The leading source for tracking security incidents and rights violations in the Kurdish regions and western border provinces.

• Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO): Based in Norway; provides verified statistics on executions and protest-related fatalities.

• Impact Iran: A coalition of NGOs that consolidates evidence for the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFMI); excellent for long-form investigative background.

📡 3. Digital forensics & connectivity labs

Used for verifying the timing and origin of digital content during the 2026 internet disruptions.

• The Iranian Archive (Mnemonic): A forensic-grade repository preserving over a million digital artefacts for legal accountability.

• Filterwatch: Analyzes the technical architecture of Iran’s censorship; vital for understanding how content is being throttled or blocked.

• NetBlocks (Iran): Provides real-time connectivity metrics to verify if a video was uploaded during a localized shutdown.

• IODA (Internet Outage Detection & Analysis): Academic-grade infrastructure monitoring for identifying ISP-level interference.

• ASL19: A technology lab specializing in censorship circumvention and digital safety for Iranian users.

🏗️ 4. Specialized investigative tools & media

• IranWire: A collaborative platform with a dedicated fact-checking section that deconstructs state-sponsored viral disinformation.

• Spreading Justice: A database that profiles alleged human rights violators; a key OSINT tool for identifying security personnel.

• DFRLab (Atlantic Council): Investigates Iranian influence operations and “sockpuppet” networks on social media.

• UC Berkeley Human Rights Center: High-capacity verification lab that partners with newsrooms to process large volumes of user-generated content (UGC).

🏗️ 5. Technical appendix for blackout OSINT

To navigate the current total blackout, newsrooms should employ these specialized forensic tactics:

A. Geolocation markers (Urban context)

• Yellow gas pipes: Iran has a unique external yellow gas piping system on building exteriors. Configuration patterns help confirm Iranian urban settings.

• Charity boxes (Sadaqah): Distinctive blue and yellow metal boxes found on street corners. Specific municipal branding can narrow down a city location.

B. The intranet loophole & metadata

• Domestic apps: Monitor Rubika, Eitaa, and Bale. These state-sanctioned apps often function when the global internet is cut.

• Solar Hijri metadata: Files created in Iran use the Solar Hijri (SH) calendar.

  • Example: January 11, 2026, is 21 Dey 1404.

  • Check metadata for the year 1404 to verify recent capture.

🎖️ 6. Security personnel recognition

📡 7. Monitoring channels

The following channels provide the signals that feed the newsroom. Content from these sources must be treated as leads and subjected to the verification and clearance protocols before being published or broadcast.

Independent, international & grassroots aggregators

• Vahid Online (@VahidOnline): A prominent Iranian internet activist known for documenting protests mainly through footage he receives directly from Iranian demonstrators.

• Hengaw Organization (@Hengaw_Org): Human rights monitoring channel with specialized data on Kurdish regions and political detainees.

• HAALVSH (@haalvsh): Activists group based outside Iran, mainly focusing on news from Sistan and Baluchestan province

• BBC Persian (@bbcpersian): Telegram bureau of the BBC. High-standard verified reports and regional analysis.

• Iran International (@IranintlTV): Diaspora-based network with royalist allegiance. Have citizen contributors inside Iran.

• Sima-ye Azadi (@SimaINTV): satellite TV channel (INTV) of People’s Mojahedin Organization, providing footage of civil unrest and resistance.

• FreedomMessenger (@FreedoMessenger): Telegram channel linked to People’s Mojahedin Organization.

• Saberin News (@Saberin_ir): Telegram channel with very close ties to IRGC and Basij forces.

• Akhbar Montakhab (@akhbar_montakhab): Large-scale aggregator of trending news and social media content from official channels within Iran.

• NE_WG (@NE_WG): Technical/Network monitoring; often used for tracking internet connectivity and censorship circumvention tools.

State-linked, official & semi-official outlets

• MFA Iran (@MFAIran): Official channel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for diplomatic signalling.

• IRNA English (@Irna_en): Official state news agency (English service).

• Fars News (@farsna): Semi-official agency closely linked to the security apparatus. Essential for monitoring “official” narratives.

• Tasnim News (@Tasnimnews): Semi-official outlet often used to broadcast messages from the IRGC.

• SEPAH (@SEPAH): Unofficial but high-following channel carrying IRGC-related news and propaganda. 🚩 Note: Recent IRGC statements (2025) clarify that most “@Sepah” handles remain unofficial despite their content.

• ISNA (@isna94): Iranian Students’ News Agency. Provides detailed reporting on domestic policy and student movements.

• PadDolat (@PadDolat): ‘Information Base of the Government.’ Often used for official messaging and government-aligned perspectives.

• Parsineh News (@parsinehnews): Analytical news site often reflecting specific political factions within the establishment.

Breaking news & rapid aggregators

• Akharin Khabar (@akharinkhabar): One of the most popular news apps in Iran; provides high-speed updates across all sectors.

• Akhbare Fori (@akhbarefori): Massive “Breaking News” aggregator. High discovery value but high risk of unverified viral content.

• Khabar Fouri (@khabar_furei): Rapid-fire breaking news. 🚩 Check for advertising/clickbait redirects.

• Khabar Farda (@khabarfarda_ir): Emerging news signal focused on political and economic forecasts.

• Akhbare Movasagh (@akhbaremovasagh_ir): Self-described “Reliable News” aggregator; requires standard cross-referencing.

• Khabar 75 (@khabar75) & Iran F News (@iranfnews): General news signals often mirroring state or semi-official reports.

• Jarian (@Jarian_com): Digital media platform tracking social and political trends.

• President Fans (@president_irFans): Unofficial fan channel monitoring pro-government sentiment.

Humanitarian & specialized monitoring

• ICRC Iran (@icrc_iran): Official International Committee of the Red Cross channel for neutral humanitarian data.

• KM_AP (@km_ap): Often used for localized or specialized monitoring (verify specific region of focus).

• AdsVipz (@AdsVipz): Ad-network channel; useful for monitoring commercial activity or “sponsored” propaganda campaigns.

🗣️ 8. Glossary of state keywords & narratives

Monitoring the Iranian news wires requires a ‘translation layer’ to gauge escalation.

CLAIM: Viral photographs allegedly show Nicolás Maduro being escorted by armed guards at an airfield after his capture by U.S. forces.

BACKGROUND: On the morning of January 3, 2026, President Trump announced that U.S. forces had captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during “Operation Southern Spear.” While the administration confirmed the capture, no official images of the president in custody have been released.

METHOD: We used an AI watermark detection tool to confirm that some of the images were created using Google’s AI tools. We also cross-referenced the image’s visual details — including agency insignia and aircraft type — against verified reports of the operation.

RATING: False. The images are sophisticated AI-generated fabrications.

Briefly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife had been captured, a picture showing Maduro being held by two agents by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began circulating online.

The picture quickly went viral. However, there was no immediate evidence that the photo was authentic, and cleaner versions of the same picture were confirmed to contain AI-generated elements.

Other pictures soon followed; slideshows of photos emerged on social media showing Maduro being escorted around by U.S. agents outside an aircraft.

Fake TV news photo shows Maduro with DEA agents

The most widely circulated photo early in the news cycle showed Maduro being escorted by two DEA agents with a small aircraft seen in the background. There was also text in the bottom part of the image, resembling a news ticker on a TV channel, as well as other graphics around the image, making it appear that this was a photograph of a screen.

A photograph of a screen — as opposed to an original image file — makes detecting for AI more difficult. However, another clearer version of the same image was detected via SynthID as being made or manipulated with Google AI software.

The areas of the image where the Google watermark was detected were small — however, the software’s effectiveness can be hampered by the addition of filters and other transformations, which this image appears to have undergone (a date stamp and grainy effect has been added, perhaps in a bid to made it appear more authentic).

SynthID’s detection at all in any part of the image is a strong indication that Google’s AI software was used. It is a Google-made programme that detects embedded watermarks in AI material produced with Google products. With AI-generated images becoming more sophisticated and lifelike, the watermark detection system is more trustworthy than some other detectors, which merely scan the image for inconsistencies and are only able to provide a suggested likelihood of AI use.

More images of Maduro on airfield also AI-generated

A slew of other similar images were also circulating, purporting to show Maduro being paraded around the airfield after his arrest by U.S. forces.

These were higher-resolution, and were clearly designed to look more like the style of a photographer working for the U.S. authorities. For example, this slideshow uploaded to Instagram (archived) featured a number of these pictures with a caption: “More photos of Maduro captured by the US.”

However, we analysed every single one of the photos in that Instagram carousel, and all were easily confirmed to be AI-generated by Google’s SynthID programme. Watermarks were detected with very high confidence in large portions of the images.

Another hint came via the uploader’s profile bio, which describes themselves as a “Professional in artificial intelligence” and a trainer in “how to master AI and After Effects”.

Trump officially releases photo

While no official photos of the operation were forthcoming throughout the morning after the operation, Donald Trump did eventually share one photo of Nicolás Maduro on Truth Social.

The photo showed the Venezuelan president in a grey Nike tracksuit, apparently en route to the U.S. He was also wearing eye shields and ear defenders. The outfit is different to the one seen in the AI-generated images, and other unconfirmed images that showed him on a plane in more formal clothing.

Maduro appears to be flanked in the image by a DEA agent, although it is unclear due to the way the image was cropped. Donald Trump captioned the image: “Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.”

Detectors like Google’s SynthID have made it easier to detect some AI-generated content. However, the proliferation of highly sophisticated AI-generated material during major breaking news stories is only growing — and has the potential to hamper the media and public’s understanding of world events.

Read more by Eurovision News Spotlight members:

• Hoaxes and disinformation about the US attack on Venezuela - VerificaRTVE

• This image of Nicolas Maduro being captured and surrounded by DEA agents is fake - RTBF Actus

• Fake footage of the attacks on Venezuela: how to recognize what’s real and what’s fake - VRT NWS

SOURCES

• Google.com. Google DeepMind. [online] SynthID Detector [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].‌

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: Primeras imágenes de Nicolás Maduro capturado. [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2026). Available at: First images of Nicolás Maduro captured [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• Instagram. (2017). Ruben Dario on Instagram: ‘Más Fotos de de Maduro capturado por los Estados Unidos. #venezuelalibre 🇻🇪 🇻🇪 🇻🇪 🇻🇪’. [online] Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• Truth Social. (2026). Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump). [online] Available at: Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima. [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• Youtube.com. (2026). Available at: 🔴 URGENTE - EXPLOSIONES EN CARACAS - MODO GUARDIA [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• Guarimbadigital.com. (2026). GuarimbaDigital. [online] Available at: Guarimba defendiendo la libertad [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

• ‌Jacobs, J., Walsh, J., LaPorta, J. and Reals, T. (2026). Available at: U.S. launches military attack on Venezuela, Trump says Maduro captured and flown out of the country. [online] Cbsnews.com. [Accessed 3 Jan. 2026].

In a statement, the EBU said that ”This vote means that all EBU Members who wish to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 and agree to comply with the new rules are eligible to take part.”

Following the vote, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia confirmed their withdrawal from the competition over Israel’s participation, citing the death toll in Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the enclave as the reason.

The vote not only prompted differing views among broadcasters. Social media users took firm positions both in favour and against the decision to allow Israel in, but amid the intense discussion, false and misleading claims began circulating.

Guardian cartoonist was not fired

Following Thursday’s vote, The Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson published a drawing of Netanyahu holding an Israeli flag over a pile of bodies and debris, the Eurovision sign visible on the front. X users shared the cartoon, with many claiming that The Guardian had fired Rowson just a few hours after the publication.

For example, X parody account @JeffreyxEpstein shared the picture (archived here) with the caption, “The Guardian published a cartoon mocking Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Hours later, the cartoonist was fired.” As of December 9, the post had garnered over 150,000 views.

However, The Guardian has not issued a statement, and there are no records indicating that Rowson was fired.

In April 2023, The Guardian deleted and apologized for one of Rowson’s cartoons after it was accused of antisemitic tropes. In October 2023, The Guardian did not renew the contract with cartoonist Steve Bell over a cartoon that the publication deemed antisemitic, but there is no evidence of anything similar happening to Rowson.

Poland did not cut diplomatic ties with Israel

On December 6, X account @World_Affairs11, which describes itself as a breaking news service and indicates its location as Pakistan, shared a post (archived here) with the caption, “BREAKING: Poland officially cuts all diplomatic relations with Israel vis boycotting Eurovision.” The post was viewed by over 329,000 users in two days.

The claim is false. There is no record of Poland cutting its diplomatic ties with Israel.

Some Polish lawmakers have called for a boycott of Eurovision 2026.

In early November, Polish broadcaster TVP confirmed its participation in the ESC. However, according to Polish news outlet Goniec, following Thursday’s vote, Kamil Kozbuch, deputy head of the corporate affairs office for communications at TVP, said a decision would be made soon.

Confusion over withdrawal announcements

As of December 9, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia are the only countries that have announced their withdrawals following the decision to allow Israel to participate.

However, social media users have been claiming that the countries boycotting the ESC are actually more.

TikTok user @tuavluesc posted a video (archived here) claiming that Belgium was the fifth country to officially withdraw from Eurovision.

Another TikTok video (archived here) posted by @rohansweetnessbla claimed instead that Iceland was the fifth country to join the boycott. X user @mehmetcakir_61, (archived here) also listed Poland among the official withdrawals.

TikTok user @eurovision_editsss published a video (archived here) claiming Armenia had released an official statement announcing its boycott over Israel’s participation.

Eurovision is not cancelled

Social media users also advanced misleading claims announcing that the Eurovision 2026 was officially cancelled.

For example, TikTok user @killjoy.co.why posted a video (archived here) with the caption “esc is cancelled ts year :(“.

Although four countries announced their withdrawal from the competition, the ESC is still scheduled to take place in May 2026, in Vienna, as originally planned.

Following the rule vote on December 4, the EBU wrote, “A large majority of Members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place.”

SOURCES

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: The Guardian published a cartoon mocking Israel’s [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: BREAKING: Poland officially cuts all diplomatic relations [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Israil’in 2026 Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması’na [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

‌Tiktok.com. (2017). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: they cancelled it [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: esc is cancelled ts year [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: 5 countries in 20 Minutes [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: Eurovision 2026 [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: Several countries have withdrawn [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].‌

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: Official announcement in comments [Accessed 9 Dec. 2025].

Polish (2025). Available at: Polish lawmakers call for Eurovision boycott over Israel’s participation. [online] Aa.com.tr. [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Siemion, D. (2025). Available at: PILNE, TYLKO U NAS: Jest oficjalne stanowisko TVP ws. udziału Polski w Eurowizji. Padła konkretna data. [online] Goniec.pl. [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

RTÉ Entertainment (2025). RTÉ to boycott Eurovision Song Contest over Israel. RTE.ie. [online] [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

RTVE.es (2025). España no participará en Eurovisión 2026 por la participación de Israel: preguntas y respuestas. RTVE.es. [online] [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Avrotros.nl. (2025). Available at: AVROTROS neemt in 2026 niet deel aan het Eurovisie Songfestival. [online] [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

RTV Slovenija (2025). Available at: Radio Si. [online] [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Rowson, M. (2025). Available at: Martin Rowson on Israel’s participation in Eurovision – cartoon. [online] the Guardian. [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Saunders, E. (2023). Available at: Steve Bell sacked by Guardian in antisemitism row over Netanyahu cartoon. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Union, B. (2025). Available at: EBU Members show clear support for reforms to reinforce trust and protect neutrality of Eurovision Song Contest, allowing all Members to participate. [online] Www.ebu.ch. [Accessed 8 Dec. 2025].

Kanter, J. (2023). Available at: The Guardian Deletes ‘Anti-Semitic’ Cartoon Of BBC’s Richard Sharp. [online] Deadline. [Accessed 9 Dec. 2025].

Ribbans, E. (2023). Available at: An image that should never have been published, and lessons that must be learned. [online] the Guardian. [Accessed 9 Dec. 2025].

CLAIM: Various videos and images claimed immigrants across Europe were opposing Christmas celebrations and that Christmas markets were being cancelled.
BACKGROUND: Narratives critical of immigration and Muslim communities regularly claim that immigrants want to cancel Christian and European traditions by imposing their religious beliefs. This trend has become particularly popular around Christmas season.
METHOD: Through image reverse searches and footage comparisons we contextualized the videos that were used to support this narrative.
RATING: Videos claiming immigrants were opposing Christmas markets and celebrations were old and taken out of context. It was often footage shot during pro Palestine marches or other similar events. Claims surrounding Christmas markets cancellations were usually a misrepresentation of the actual facts.

As Christmas markets opened and lights switched on across Europe, social media witnessed what has now become another yearly tradition: a wave of narratives critical of immigration and Muslim communities surrounding Christmas celebrations.

Social media users critical of immigration have been sharing numerous videos and images, contributing to the narrative that “Christmas is being cancelled.” According to their claims, immigrants — and more specifically, Muslims — are opposing Christmas celebrations with protests, while European cities gave in to their demands, cancelling Christmas markets.

The videos and images used to support the claims are usually old and taken out of context, often footage shot during pro-Palestine demonstrations and other misrepresented content.

Old protests footage: Primary method for spreading the misinformation

While these claims spread across different European countries, the misinformation technique appears to remain the same. A large majority of the allegations supporting this narrative were, in fact, made from old footage of protests, taken out of context and reused misleadingly.

A video (archived here) showing a protest in Brussels Bourse square went viral on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in November 2025, as users claimed the clip featured “Islamic immigrants” protesting against Christmas.

For example, on November 30 Italian independent journalist Azzurra Barbuto shared the video (archived here) on X, with the caption, “Islamic immigrants, waving Palestinian flags, protest against Christmas, against our lights, against our nativity scenes, against our traditions.” Her post had garnered over 14,000 views as of December 4.

While it is true that on November 28, a protest took place in the Bourse square, coinciding with the Christmas markets’ opening day, it is false that it was a demonstration against Christmas.

The protest was organized by Ahrar Palestine, a local movement that has regularly occupied the Bourse square in support of Palestine over the last two years, as reported by Italian fact-checker Facta.news. The demonstration was documented on the collective’s Instagram profile.

In the video, it is possible to see numerous Palestinian flags and some typical slogans for anti-Israel protests.

Similarly, on November 28, social media users on Instagram and X (archived here and here) started sharing a video claiming it featured Muslim protesters in Milan disrupting the opening of Christmas markets in the Duomo square. In the footage, several protesters waving Palestinian, Egyptian, and Tunisian flags, among others, climbed the square monument, chanting.

However, the Christmas markets in the Duomo square were inaugurated only on December 1, predating the video. Additionally, in the clip, a lit-up Christmas tree is visible in the background, while this year the square’s tree will not be lit up until December 6.

The video appears to have been shot during the 2025 New Year’s celebrations in Milan, as indicated by a comparison with older footage and the illumination of the Christmas tree, which coincided with a group of protesters carrying flags from various Arabic countries who climbed the square monument while chanting against the Italian police.

There are no reports of demonstrations during the opening of the 2025 Christmas markets in Milan in Italian media.

Similarly, a social media account with a history of publishing misinformation, @Radiogenoa, shared a video (archived here) on X on December 1, claiming it showed immigrants surrounding Christmas markets and calling for Islamic jihad.

While the video's audio does not allow a definitive determination of the chants’ content, a police spokesperson told Österreichischer Rundfunk’s (ORF) Anita Fichtinger that there were no records of jihad-related comments.

The video appears to have been shot during a pro-Palestine protest in Vienna on November 29, which passed by the city’s Christmas markets, as local media reported.

The video appears to have been shot during a pro-Palestine protest in Vienna on November 29, which passed by the city’s Christmas markets, as local media reported.

Finally, a video (archived here) became viral on social media over the last few months, purportedly showing thousands of Muslim immigrants in Germany protesting against the Christmas festivity fair because it goes against their beliefs.

A reverse image search with Google Lens revealed that the video was initially shot in October 2024. According to media reports, the demonstration was organized by the collective Muslim Interaktiv in Hamburg in the St. Georg district, calling to “Stop the genocide against our Uyghur brothers and sisters in East Turkistan.”

A fact-check from AAP geolocated the video to the corner of Steindamm and Kruezweg in Hamburg. The Christmas fair or market located closest to the demonstration, Winter Pride, didn’t begin until November 15 in 2024.

There are several other videos currently circulating claiming they feature Muslims disrupting Christmas markets across Europe. For example, X user @DefiantLs shared a video (archived here) on November 9, claiming it showed immigrants disrupting markets in Germany.

However, an image reverse search revealed that the footage was shot in December 2024, in Essen, Germany, when thousands of Syrians marched through the city to celebrate the fall of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, as confirmed by media reports.

However, an image reverse search revealed that the footage was shot in December 2024, in Essen, Germany, when thousands of Syrians marched through the city to celebrate the fall of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, as confirmed by media reports.

Christmas markets are not getting cancelled

As Christmas market openings approached, rumours spread that they were being cancelled due to terrorism and immigration fears.

For example, a video (archived here) circulated on TikTok with the caption “Christmas is around the corner, Germany is CANCELLING their markets… and it also looks like other places in Europe are going to do the same.” The video had over 700,000 views as of December 4.

According to an extensive fact-check published by German public broadcaster DW, most markets across the country opened regularly around the end of November. Among the over 2,500 scheduled markets, only a few isolated cancellations were recorded, such as those in Hamburg’s Rahlstedt district, due to low revenue.

Similarly, a Facebook user (archived here) claimed that the Christmas markets in Magdeburg were cancelled this year due to a lack of appropriate safety measures following last year’s attack.

The claim is false; the Christmas markets in Magdeburg opened on November 20, as confirmed on the event’s official website. The markets were initially delayed because the administrative office had not yet approved the safety plan for the event, but the issue was solved a couple of days later, as reported in a statement by the city’s mayor.

Germany was not the only target of this particular narrative. Similar claims circulated across the UK.

For example, a video (archived here) was shared on TikTok with the caption “Christmas Lights CANCELLED Forever?! Shocking Reason They’ll NEVER Return.”

The video misrepresented a decision by Sheffield’s Councillor Ibby Ullah, who announced that this year's switching-on event would not take place due to other Christmas-related activities.

According to a Reuters fact-check, the lights are still on in the city and will remain so until January 5. Additionally, construction work and crowd safety concerns appear to have cancelled the switch-on event at least since 2023.

SOURCES

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: IMMIGRATI PROTESTANO CONTRO IL NATALE? [Accessed 3 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: WATCH: Arabic music blasting in downtown Stuttgart, Germany - right in the heart of the Christmas Market. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: This is Milan, Northern Italy. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: These are Christmas markets in Germany. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: That’s a false statement John. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: In Vienna, they surrounded Christmas market [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: ALERTE INFO : Dans une scène terrifiante [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Instagram. (2017). radicalradaruk on Instagram. [online] Available at: Islamists climb statue [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].‌

‌Instagram. (2017). Available at: Ahrar Palestine 🇵🇸 on Instagram: ‘Join us every Friday at 6pm. We can’t stop now. We need to keep being loud until Palestine is free FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.’ [online] [Accessed 3 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2024). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: Coming to a Christmas near you [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: Christmas Lights CANCELLED Forever? [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Available at: CHRISTMAS MARKET HAS BEEN CANCELLED [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Genuinely couldn’t believe. [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok - Make Your Day Germany cancels Christmas [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

‌AAP News. (2025). AAP News - Glance. [online] Available at: Protest clip miscast as anti-Christmas rally [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

‌Facta. (2025). Available at: Questa non è una manifestazione di immigrati musulmani a Bruxelles contro il Natale. [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Thomas, J. and Paternoster, T. (2025). Euronews.com. [online] euronews. Available at: Heavy fortifications and cancellations? Misinformation spreads about German Christmas markets [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

Check, R.F. (2025). Available at: Fact Check: Sheffield did not scrap its Christmas lights after deciding against switch-on event. [online] Reuters. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Facebook.com. (2025). Available at: Peterborough Township - South Australia | BREAKING: District Council of Peterborough has CANCELLED the 2025 Christmas Pageant less than a week before it was scheduled to proceed. [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

Facebook.com. (2016). Facebook. [online] Available at: Magdeburgo, Germania. Rubrica “Il Natale è cancellato [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Weihnachtsmarkt-magdeburg.de. (2025). Available at: Magdeburger Weihnachtsmarkt – Herzlich willkommen. [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].

Facta. (2025). Available at: Non è vero che i mercatini di Natale di Magdeburgo sono stati annullati per l’attacco dello scorso anno. [online] [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025]

CLAIM: Various viral posts claimed Erika Kirk was eight weeks pregnant, 11 weeks on from her husband’s death. This linked in with unsubstantiated allegations romantically linking her and JD Vance.
BACKGROUND: Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was killed on a college campus in September. His wife, Erika Kirk, assumed his role as the organization’s leader and has subsequently faced heightened public scrutiny, including social media speculation that she is in a relationship with Vice President JD Vance.
METHOD: We tracked the origin of the rumours back to a series of AI-generated posts on Facebook that initially claimed she was pregnant when Charlie Kirk was killed. Later, the speculation around JD Vance fuelled a distorted version of this rumour. Erika Kirk addressed some of the speculation in a recent media appearance.
RATING: Images that showed Erika Kirk holding an ultrasound image were AI-generated. There was no further evidence from credible sources to support the claims.

Eleven weeks after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a U.S. college campus, claims began circulating on social media that his wife, Erika Kirk, was pregnant.

The claims evolved when social media users circulated allegations that Mrs. Kirk was eight weeks pregnant — a timeline that fuelled speculation that the father was not her late husband.

These allegations overlapped with prior social media speculation about the nature of Erika Kirk’s relationship with Vice President JD Vance, following an onstage embrace between the pair at a Turning Point USA event in late October.

While the most recent allegations about Erika Kirk were amplified on X in the form of jokes and political commentary, the claims originated in poorly produced AI-generated content posted on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

The early pregnancy rumours

A trend of AI-generated imagery and related captions featuring the Kirks circulated on social platforms like Facebook in late October and early November. Many of them directly showed Erika Kirk holding an ultrasound image, while others featured pictures of the couple with captions suggesting she was pregnant.

The captions, which used highly emotional language, talked about her ‘bittersweet pregnancy’ and ‘a mother’s quiet strength,’ and quoted Kirk as saying the child “will grow up without knowing the man who dreamed of holding them”.

As of late November, the majority of the Facebook posts had been removed from the platform. However, evidence of them was still visible on Google Lens searches carried out on a picture of Kirk holding a scan. A version was also found on Instagram, where it was still live (archived here) as of November 28.

Many of the images appeared in collages also featuring real pictures of the Kirk couple. However, images of her crying and holding an ultrasound print were clearly AI-generated. While many AI models can now create realistic, photograph-like images, some of the pictures shared in this story showed Kirk with an exaggerated crying expression, reminiscent of older iterations.

Posts like this circulated on fake news pages on Facebook for weeks, but the rumour did not break into mainstream conversation until late November, when claims began circulating that Kirk was eight weeks pregnant, despite her husband being dead for 11 weeks.

Posts and memes about Erika Kirk being in the early stages of pregnancy racked up tens of millions of views on X. Individual examples included a post from November 25 with 16.6 million views, a post from November 23 with 7.7 million views, and another on the same day with 1.9 million views.

The pregnancy allegations gained traction alongside separate, unsubstantiated social media allegations that Vice President JD Vance and Erika Kirk were engaged in a relationship following Charlie Kirk’s death.

The allegations also spread on TikTok; one video from a parody ‘news’ page racked up over 4 million views and 300,000 likes. Although tagged as ‘satire,’ the information was delivered in a news style, and the comments suggested that that many viewers believed it.

@bullsnosenewsErika Kirk reveals she is 8 weeks pregnant with Charlie Kirk's child in magical story after his tragic passing. There's just one small issue... #fyp #charliekirk #parody #BullsNoseNews #satire

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No verified news organizations or credible sources close to Erika Kirk have indicated that she was pregnant. The relationship allegations emerged after an embrace between her and JD Vance onstage at a Turning Point USA event in late October, which coincided with the initial timing of the pregnancy claims.

Divorce rumours circulating around JD Vance and his wife, Usha, further fuelled the discourse after a sighting of Usha Vance without her wedding ring during a recent outing. Explaining the absence of the ring, a spokesperson for the second lady told news outlets that she is “a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes”.

Kirk prayed for pregnancy when husband killed

There was no reliable evidence that Erika Kirk was indeed pregnant. However, she mentioned pregnancy herself earlier this week in an interview with conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly.

Kirk, who has two children with Charlie Kirk, told Kelly that she had been praying that she was pregnant the day her husband was killed.

“We wanted to have four. And I was praying to God that I was pregnant when he got murdered. I was like ‘oh, goodness, that would be the ultimate blessing out of this catastrophe’.”

Mrs. Kirk, in tears at this point of the interview, expressed thanks that she has her two children and did not say that another was on the way. “I was praying, both of us were, we were really excited to just expand our family,” she said.

In the same interview, she addressed the hug with JD Vance that sparked so many rumours, saying: “For those of you who know me … I hug. Whoever is hating on a hug needs a hug themselves. I will give you a free hug anytime you want a hug. My love language is touch, if you will.

“I will give you a play-by-play. They just played the emotional video, I’m walking over, he’s walking over. I’m starting to cry, he says ‘he’s so proud of you’, and I say ‘God bless you’ and I touch the back of his head. Anyone who I’ve hugged, that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say ‘God bless you’. That’s just me.”

The Kirk couple were longtime friends of JD Vance; Charlie and JD Vance’s friendship dated back to 2017, according to a post by the U.S. Vice President, and Charlie was an early advocate for Vance joining Donald Trump as running mate.

Since Charlie Kirk’s death, Erika Kirk has taken over his role as leader of Turning Point USA, a right-wing organization with huge influence in the MAGA movement. She has indicated her intention to back JD Vance for president in 2028, which she said was something her “husband was very direct about”.

SOURCES

• Instagram. (2017). Lilian Zambrano on Instagram: “😱😱😱 “EL LEGADO DE KIRK CONTINÚA 💫 - Erika Kirk, viuda del fallecido Charlie Kirk…”. [online] [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• ‌X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Charlie Kirk died 10 weeks ago…Erika is 9 weeks pregnant. [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Erika kirk 8 weeks pregnant even though Charlie got irked with the K 10 weeks ago, smth aint adding up [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Erika kirk is 8 weeks pregnant and charlie kirk died 10 weeks ago [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• Richards, B. (2025). Usha Vance’s Spokesperson Addresses Marriage Rumors After She’s Spotted Without Wedding Ring During Outing with Melania Trump. [online] People.com. [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• Youtube.com. (2025). Available at: FULL: VP JD Vance speaks at Turning Point USA event at Ole Miss | FOX 5 DC [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show to talk about God knows what… [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• Youtube.com. (2025). Available at: Erika Kirk on Continuing Charlie’s Mission, Marriage, and Prayer, Plus Walter Kirn on UFOs and TDS [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• Demissie, H. (2025). Erika Kirk says Turning Point’s support of JD Vance in 2028 is ‘in the works’. [online] ABC News. [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].

• Tiktok.com. (2025). Available at: Erika Kirk reveals she is 8 weeks pregnant with Charlie Kirk’s child in magical story after his tragic passing. There’s just one small issue... #fyp #charliekirk #parody #BullsNoseNews #satire. TikTok - Make Your Day. [Accessed 28 Nov. 2025].‌

• CLAIM: Discourse around a recent boycott of Spotify centered around the CEO’s investment in an arms company alleged to be used by Israel in Gaza.

• BACKGROUND: A new artist boycott of Spotify was launched earlier this year after the CEO Daniel Ek’s investment company led a new round of funding for Helsing, a German defence technology company. Artists raised their opposition to their music funding lethal weapons while also mentioning their opposition to the ongoing war in Gaza, leading some to believe that Helsing’s tech was being directly used in the Middle East.

• METHOD: Helsing released a statement saying its technology was only being used for the defence of Ukraine, and was not being exported to Israel. Spotify sought to clarify that Helsing is completely separate from it. Daniel Ek, who in recent years has become increasingly involved in his other business interests, announced he would step down as CEO of Spotify in the New Year.

• RATING: The mixed messaging in some of the communications of the boycott led to an incorrect link being drawn between Helsing activities and Israel.

Spotify is currently facing an escalating wave of cancellations and an artist boycott, stemming from CEO Daniel Ek’s investments in the military technology company, Helsing.

While the boycott was fundamentally launched in opposition to Ek’s involvement in Helsing, the narrative surrounding the controversy has been complicated by the incorrect conflation of separate issues. Reports indicate that the timing and nature of certain activist communications allowed a misleading link between Helsing and the conflict in the Middle East to gain traction.

And despite a clarification from the companies involved, the claims have persisted, spreading from Spotify’s base in Sweden across borders and reaching Spain, where activists threw red paint on an FC Barcelona shop over the football club’s Spotify sponsorship. Artists boycotting the music platform mentioned their activism against weapons funding and the war in Gaza in the same statements — contributing to a situation where both issues looked connected.

The complex nature of the links between each party in this story — some of which are openly disclosed and some of which are tenuous or even untrue — have helped the claims to persist, especially on social media where calls to action are communicated in short slides or 280-character posts.

So where does this story come from, and what is the truth behind the claims?

Daniel Ek and his investments

Swedish businessman Daniel Ek is the co-founder and CEO of Spotify, although he is due to step down from the chief executive job in January 2026 after two decades at the helm. Founded in Sweden in 2006, Spotify started as a response to the piracy problem in music, and eventually grew to become the dominant player in music streaming.

Spotify changed the music industry forever. It also made Ek a billionaire. The 42-year-old also has other business interests, one of which is an investment company called Prima Materia, which pledged to invest in ambitious European startups when it was established in 2021.

Prima Materia was an early investor in the German military technology company Helsing, which was founded in 2021. Ek is currently the chairman of the firm, which specializes in developing aerial and underwater drones as well as AI software for weapons systems.

The latest Helsing funding round — led by Prima Materia — in June 2025 raised €600 million, boosting the company’s overall valuation to $12 billion, according to news reports at the time.

The investment round brought Ek’s involvement in military tech back into public consciousness. Despite the companies of Spotify and Helsing being separate entities, the Daniel Ek link prompted some artists to pull their music from Spotify over their opposition to weapons funding.

Confusion as artist boycott movements name-drop Israel

One of those was Massive Attack, who called it a “moral and ethical burden” in which “the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies”. The statement by Massive Attack also contributed to the confusion about where Helsing’s tech was being used.

The announcement about the band’s pulling out of Spotify over Daniel Ek’s business activities came immediately following a statement that was otherwise relating to the ‘No Music for Genocide’ initiative, which the band was also backing and which sees artists calling on Spotify to remove their music from the Israeli market. The ‘No Music for Genocide’ initiative has been signed up to by more than 1,000 musicians and labels, and describes itself as a “cultural boycott” inspired by successful similar efforts against apartheid South Africa.

The Massive Attack statement did specify that the two were separate and distinct causes, but their mixing in one statement helped the spread of claims that Daniel Ek was investing in drones that were being used by Israel.

Rock trio Xiu Xiu made a similar request to remove their music from Spotify, telling fans on Instagram that they were working to take all their music off what they described as “garbage hole violent armageddon portal Spotify.” They added: “Reason: Spotify uses music money to invest in AI war drones.” In a follow-up post, Xiu Xiu made further remarks suggesting the Helsing investment could have something to do with Israel, without providing evidence.

This was a claim that was also seen elsewhere; in September, El Español reported on activists who sprayed red paint on the front of an FC Barcelona shop to “denounce the club’s link with Spotify, whose CEO is associated with the financing of a weapons company used by Israel”.

A more recent example from Spain in mid-November saw a collective of more than 160 musicians and bands from the Basque region in the north of the country launch a boycott against Spotify over the CEO’s other investments in AI drones. The pro-Palestine collective, called Musikariak Palestinarekin (Musicians with Palestine), mentioned Daniel Ek’s investment in military tech among their reasons; other reasons were issues around pay and the treatment of artists by the streaming giant.

The Basque music collective specified that the goal was to free their music from the war industry at large, but as a Palestine-specific activist group, it also mentioned that Ek’s investment came “in the context of genocide and war”. Some of the news coverage about this large-scale boycott explicitly mentioned a link between Helsing technology and Israel.

Outside of the artist boycott, customers were also reporting that they were cancelling their Spotify accounts over the company’s perceived support of Israel.

Other posts linked Helsing and weapons manufacturer Saab. Saab is indeed an investor and strategic partner of Helsing, and the Swedish company Saab does have business relationships in Israel — the CEO Micael Johannson had previously said: “We have some companies in Israel supporting us in the supply chain.”

Despite the interconnectedness of Western defence industry, there was no evidence directly linking Helsing to operations in Israel. The company also responded to what it called “misinformation” over where its products were being used.

Helsing says tech is used in Ukraine only

In response to the circulating theories back in September, Helsing released a statement. In it, the company said: “Currently we see misinformation spreading that Helsing’s technology is deployed in war zones other than Ukraine. This is not correct. Our technology is deployed to European countries for deterrence and for defence against the Russian aggression in Ukraine only.”

Spotify has also sought to separate itself from the Helsing story. An employee operating an official Spotify for Artists account commented on the Massive Attack statement, writing: “I want to clarify a few things. Spotify and Helsing are two totally separate companies. And while I can’t speak for Helsing, I’m well aware they’re not involved in Gaza. I know because I had the same questions myself, and asked. Helsing’s efforts are focused on Europe defending itself in Ukraine. If you want to talk about Spotify and royalty payouts, happy to have a conversation.”

Spotify has been contacted for further comment. Its response to other news outlets reporting on the reaction to Ek’s investment has pointed journalists to the Helsing statement.

With Ek soon to step out of his CEO role at Spotify, the streaming giant has said that decision had nothing to do with any recent controversy. Ek will continue on as executive chairman of Spotify, and said he will remain involved in the running of the company.

And despite the clarification from Helsing and a lack of any other evidence that its drones are used anywhere other than Ukraine, the claims linking it with Israel have persisted and appear to be growing in Spain, where the boycott movement is gaining traction in the Basque Country, and in Latin America.

Boycotts founded in misinformation

There are other instances in which boycotts have stemmed from misinformation or exaggerated claims and led to very real financial consequences for major companies.

In 2023, Bud Light sent a personalized beer can to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, for a social media post as part of an influencer partnership. It led to a right-wing boycott, with false claims that the cans would all feature Mulvaney’s face receiving widespread attention, as well as an understanding that there was a wider advertising deal at play.

The CEO of Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, Michel Doukeris, told the Financial Times that “misinformation and confusion” around the scope of the partnership with Mulvaney — including digitally altered images of billboards featuring her and a can of Bud Light — hit sales of the product (some reports estimated the loss at over a billion dollars.) While anti-transgender boycotters were generally unhappy that Bud Light would work with Mulvaney at all, the exaggeration of the story on social platforms heightened the backlash, and led to one of the largest boycotts of a consumer brand in U.S. history.

For now, the boycott of Spotify does not appear to have hurt the streaming business; reporting its third quarter earnings for 2025, Spotify said it had surpassed 700 million Monthly Active Users, while paid subscribers climbed 12% year on year. The company’s total revenue also grew 12% since the same time the previous year.

The statement on November 4 quoted Daniel Ek as saying: “The business is healthy … It all comes back to user fundamentals and that’s where we are: 700 million users who keep coming back, engagement at all-time highs. We’re building Spotify for the long-term.”

SOURCES

• Stupples, B. (2022). Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Builds ‘Insane’ $1 Billion Bet on European Tech Startups. [online] Bloomberg.com. [Accessed 21 Nov. 2025].

• Instagram. (2025). Massive Attack on Instagram: ‘In 1991 the scourge of apartheid violence fell from South Africa, aided from a distance by public boycotts, protests… [online] [Accessed 21 Nov. 2025].

• ‌Instagram. (2017). Xiu Xiu For Life on Instagram: ‘Reason: Spotify uses music money to invest in AI war drones.’ [online] [Accessed 21 Nov. 2025].

• ‌X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Activistas pertenecientes la organización ‘Futuro Vegetal’ lanzan pintura roja a la fachada de una tienda del Barça [Accessed 24 Nov. 2025].

• Instagram. (2017). Musikariak Palestinarekin on Instagram: ‘Zer gertatu da Spotifyrekin? Boikot Spotify!’ [online] [Accessed 24 Nov. 2025].

• ‌Sherman, N. (2025). Spotify founder Daniel Ek to step down as chief executive. [online] Bbc.com. [Accessed 24 Nov. 2025].

• Nomusicforgenocide.org. (2025). No Music For Genocide. [online] [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Ya cancelé spotify por financiar a Israel ¿y ustedes? [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].

• IISS. (2023). Western defence companies scale up production, but Gaza moves goalposts. [online] [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) invests in military AI technology and supports Israel. [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].

• Helsing.ai. (2025). Helsing raises €600m to invest in European technological sovereignty – Helsing. [online] [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].

• Spotify Newsroom (2025). Spotify Reports Third Quarter 2025 Earnings — Spotify. [online] Spotify. [Accessed 26 Nov. 2025].

• Sugiura, E. (2023). AB InBev boss blames social media ‘misinformation’ for backlash against Bud Light. [online] @FinancialTimes. [Accessed 26 Nov. 2025].

• Mukherjee, S. (2025). Spotify founder Daniel Ek pivots from music to European tech ventures. [online] Reuters. [Accessed 26 Nov. 2025].

• Ziady, H. (2024). Bud Light boycott likely cost Anheuser-Busch InBev over $1 billion in lost sales. [online] CNN. [Accessed 26 Nov. 2025].

Late on November 17, the UN Security Council voted in favour of a resolution based on the U.S.-drafted 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza.

The headlines include some of the next steps for the Gaza Strip, after the plan’s initial phase was used to broker a ceasefire last month that slowed the large-scale fighting and casualties taking place in the territory.

The resolution was supported by 13 countries on the UN Security Council, and did not receive any votes against — although Russia and China abstained. Russia cited concern that the document could become “a death warrant for the two-state solution”, while China said it was vague and lacking detail on critical elements.

The plan includes provisions for the establishment of an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to operate within Gaza. The U.S. has said that multiple countries have offered to contribute troops, although these countries have not yet been named. News reports suggested that the U.S. is aiming to deploy the first ISF troops in January 2026.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that the adoption of the resolution was “an important step in the consolidation of the ceasefire”.

“It is essential now to translate the diplomatic momentum into concrete and urgently needed steps on the ground. The United Nations is committed to implementing the roles entrusted to it in the resolution, scaling up humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza and supporting all efforts to move the parties toward the next phase of the ceasefire.”

The resolution, which paves the way for foreign troops in the enclave, has been rejected by Hamas, which stated that it “imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject”.

In a statement on Telegram, the Palestinian group wrote: “Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming armed groups, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favour of Israeli forces.”

Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, but the 20-point plan, proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, specifies that Hamas members must disarm or leave Gaza, and they and other factions must not play any role in the governance of the territory. The Palestinian Authority welcomed the adoption of the resolution.

There are a number of other key events that are stipulated by the original U.S. plan. The ‘Board of Peace’ — a transitional governance body — will be established to supervise the future activities in the strip, including the delivery of aid and reconstruction work. The plan proposes that funding for the construction effort would come from a trust fund established by the World Bank and other financial institutions.

But what else is in it? The 20-point plan was published by the White House on September 29, and the first phase of it was ultimately signed on October 9. The latest UN Security Council resolution endorses that plan and adds some more context on the next steps.

Read the full text of both below.

Full text of UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025)

Resolution 2803 (2025)

Adopted by the Security Council at its 10046th meeting, on 17 November 2025

The Security Council,

Welcoming the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025 (“Comprehensive Plan”)(annex 1 to this resolution), and applauding the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it, and further welcoming the historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity of 13 October 2025 and the constructive role played by the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Türkiye, in having facilitated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,

Determining that the situation in the Gaza Strip threatens the regional peace and the security of neighboring states and noting prior relevant Security Council resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,

1. Endorses the Comprehensive Plan, acknowledges the parties have accepted it, and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, including maintenance of the ceasefire, in good faith and without delay;

2. Welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace (BoP) as a transitional administration with international legal personality that will set the framework, and coordinate funding for, the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, and in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, until such time as the Palestinian Authority (PA) has satisfactorily completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French Proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. After the PA reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence;

3. Underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid in cooperation with the BoP into the Gaza Strip in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles and through cooperating organizations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, and ensuring such aid is used solely for peaceful uses and not diverted by armed groups;

4. Authorizes Member States participating in the BoP and the BoP to: (A) enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, including those addressing privileges and immunities of personnel of the force established in paragraph 7 below; and (B) establish operational entities with, as necessary, international legal personality and transactional authorities for the performance of its functions, including: (1) the implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip, as championed by the Arab League, which shall be responsible for day -to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration; (2) the reconstruction of Gaza and of economic recovery programs; (3) the coordination and supporting of and delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza; (4) any measures to facilitate the movement of persons in and out of Gaza, in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and (5) any such additional tasks as may be necessary to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan;

5. Understands that the operational entities referred to in paragraph 4 above will operate under the transitional authority and oversight of the BoP and are to be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

6. Calls upon the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza, including through the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors;

7. Authorizes Member States working with the BoP and the BoP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP, with forces contributed by participating States, in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel, and to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The ISF shall work with Israel and Egypt, without prejudice to their existing agreements, along with the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas; stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups; protect civilians, including humanitarian operations; train and provide support to the vetted Palestinian police forces; coordinate with relevant States to secure humanitarian corridors; and undertake such additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Comprehensive Plan. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw from the Gaza Strip based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat. The ISF shall, (A) assist the BoP in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, and enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and (B) operate under the strategic guidance of the BoP and will be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

8. Decides the BoP and international civil and security presences authorized by this resolution shall remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, subject to further action by the Council, and any further reauthorization of the ISF be in full cooperation and coordination with Egypt and Israel and other Member States continuing to work with the ISF;

9. Calls upon Member States and international organizations to work with the BoP to identify opportunities to contribute personnel, equipment, and financial resources to its operating entities and the ISF, to provide technical assistance to its operating entities and the ISF, and to give full recognition to its acts and documents;

10. Requests the BoP provide a written report on progress related to the above to the UN Security Council every six months;

11. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

President Donald J. Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict

1. Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.

2. Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.

3. If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.

4. Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.

5. Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1700 Gazans who were detained after October 7th 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.

6. Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.

7. Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.

8. Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the January 19, 2025 agreement.

9. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.

10. A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.

11. A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.

12. No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.

13. Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.

14. A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.

15. The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field. This force will be the long-term internal security solution. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces. It is critical to prevent munitions from entering Gaza and to facilitate the rapid and secure flow of goods to rebuild and revitalize Gaza. A deconfliction mechanism will be agreed upon by the parties.

16. Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the Unites States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt, or its citizens. Practically, the IDF will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

17. In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF to the ISF.

18. An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasizing the benefits that can be derived from peace.

19. While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.

20. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.

SOURCES

• United Nations Security Council. Resolution 2803 (2025) Adopted by the Security Council at its 10046th meeting, on 17 November 2025.

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: President Donald J. Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, Sept. 29. [Accessed 18 Nov. 2025].

• Secretary-General. (2025). Note to Correspondents: on the adoption of the resolution on Gaza by the Security Council. [online] [Accessed 18 Nov. 2025].

• X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: #BREAKING UN Security Council ADOPTS resolution authorizing a Board of Peace and an International Stabilization Force in #Gaza, as outlined in a United States “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict”. [Accessed 18 Nov. 2025].

• Ravid, B. (2025). Scoop: U.S. seeks UN approval for Gaza security force with broad two-year mandate. [online] Axios. [Accessed 18 Nov. 2025].

Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are being listed for resale on FIFA’s own platform for tens of thousands of dollars — with some standard stadium seats commanding prices into the hundreds of thousands.

An analysis by Eurovision News Spotlight of the FIFA-facilitated resale prices for all 104 World Cup fixtures showed a ticket for a semi-final in Dallas listed for sale at close to a million dollars — $959,394.57.

Few price controls were in apparent effect, despite the fact that there are differing rules across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, where the games will take place. The most aggressive markups were systematically pricing out budget-conscious fans, with the cheapest seats being resold in some cases for over 10 times their original cost.

FIFA’s own ticketing platform is handling resales for the tournament and, by keeping it all in-house, is able to charge both buyers and sellers a 15% facilitation fee on each second-hand ticket. With some tickets being listed in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, FIFA stands to make back a significant amount on resales, as well as the cost of the initial ticket bought at face value.

The extreme markups are concentrated in specific geographic hotspots and across even the most affordable ticket categories, transforming what was promised to be a globally accessible tournament into a luxury event. More than 1 million tickets have already been sold in the initial phase to people from 212 different countries and territories, demonstrating massive global demand despite the eye-watering prices.

While several countries in Europe and around the world have put in place regulations to stem ticket ‘scalping’ or ‘touting’ — the practice of buying up tickets for concerts or matches at face value and reselling them at huge profits — there are few federal controls in the United States, despite scrutiny on platforms like Ticketmaster in recent years as concert prices spiralled out of control.

In Mexico, there are consumer protection laws against resales or ticket transfers above face value, but these did not appear to be being enforced for the World Cup. Tickets will also appear on third-party resale sites, but this analysis focuses only on FIFA’s internal resale platform.

Huge markups across all ticket categories

The tickets are divided into categories designed to offer different price tiers to fans hoping to attend the tournament. Category 1 features the highest-priced seats located mainly in the lower tier nearer to the pitch. Category 2 is further back, with some seats available in both the lower and upper tiers of the stadium.

Category 3 tickets are mainly in the upper tier of the stadium. Meanwhile, Category 4 consists of small sections at the far reaches of the stadiums, and were billed as being the most affordable category with tickets originally costing as low as US$60. On FIFA’s own website, the governing body said: “These categories aim to offer a variety of options for different needs to ensure that all fans can enjoy the tournament.”

Despite this, every category sold out in an initial round of releases, and many tickets reappeared on FIFA’s own internal resale platform for many multiples of the face value with no apparent upper limit or controls.

An archived version of an analytics website that tracks FIFA ticket prices showed the prices of the seats on their first sale. Unlike at previous World Cups, FIFA rolled out a dynamic pricing model for the 2026 tournament, meaning there is technically no standardized ‘face value’ for tickets of the same category for the same match. For the purposes of this analysis, we counted the first available figures as ‘face value’.

It had been anticipated that the dynamic pricing would lead to hikes after the World Cup draw on December 5. However, the price jump kicked in earlier, with a report by The Athletic saying that FIFA raised the ticket prices for nine of the matches after just one full day of sales in response to demand.

Category 1: High premium for tickets closest to pitch

The lowest price we found for a Category 1 seat was $552 in Kansas City for a Group F match, a relatively small markup from the $410 these tickets originally sold for. However, it was a different story at the highest point of the scale for each match, where people were listing tickets for tens and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Match 103, the ‘bronze final’ between the losers of both semi-finals, which is scheduled to take place on July 18 in Miami, featured a Category 1 ticket that was even more expensive than the maximum price for the actual final. While tickets in this section went on sale for $1,000, a resale ticket was available for $203,550.

For the World Cup final, a ticket was found with a listing price of $57,500. But the high upper limit prices can be seen across the tournament, with a $98,982.36 ticket seen for the United States’ opening game in Los Angeles on June 12.

More expensive tickets could yet appear for these later matches, given that fans will not know if their team will reach the late stages until the tournament is well underway. Even the earlier group stage matches will be subject to much reselling and transferring of tickets in the coming weeks, due to the fact that the group draw which will determine the runners and riders in each group is not taking place until December 5.

Category 2: Tickets costing hundreds of thousands being assigned to buyers

Category 2 tickets are the ‘medium’ option, with tickets stretching back to the edge of the stadium for some matches. Despite this, the highest resale prices we saw were from this category, with several tickets listed in the hundreds of thousands and two close to a million dollars.

The most expensive ticket price in this analysis was $959,394.57, a Category 2 ticket for a semi-final in Dallas on July 14. A Category 2 ticket was also listed for the other semi-final in Atlanta the next day for $893,550.

On the other end of the scale, there were Category 2 tickets for matches across the tournament available for between $400 and $500. The situation exposes the huge gulf in ticket valuation, where punters or even professional ticket scalpers are allowed to publish listings with virtually any asking price.

When a buyer selects a ticket they wish to buy, the FIFA Resale Marketplace automatically assigns the lowest-priced ticket available for purchase, but it was unclear whether FIFA planned to do anything about the extremely expensive listings that would come into effect after the cheaper options were sold out.

We went through the process of buying four Category 2 tickets for the semi-final in Atlanta. Three tickets costing just under $4,000 each were assigned, while the fourth appeared with a price tag of $213,870 (before the FIFA resale fee of $33,872 was added to the entire basket). It was not clear where in the stadium the seats were or whether they were together; in the basket, a notice read: “Seat will be assigned later.”

Category 3: From $300 to $100,000 to sit in upper tiers

Category 3 should have among the cheapest tickets for the World Cup matches, as for the most part, these seats will be in the upper tiers of each stadium.

Nonetheless, there is still a huge variety of prices in this category. Once again, the semi-final in Atlanta is home to a Category 3 ticket listed for over $100,000. The World Cup final in New York/New Jersey has an upper level ticket in this category priced at $32,085.

The opening match for the U.S. in Los Angeles similarly has a ticket costing over $30,000. A ticket was seen for $28,750 for the first match in San Francisco and $18,400 tickets were found for round of 32 matches in Boston and Seattle.

But once again, the situation was varied. Category 3 tickets for various matches in Atlanta and Kansas City were found in the $300 range — still over double the face value but much more affordable than the maximum resale values.

Category 4: ‘The world will be welcome’ despite record costs

Gianni Infantino promised “the world will be welcome” at the World Cup, and in that spirit, tiny sections at the outer edges of each stadium were set aside for Category 4 tickets, which were supposed to cost as little as $60 for some matches throughout the tournament.

The dynamic pricing was clearly in effect, because even at face value, the prices varied across matches with higher demand, such as games where the home teams were confirmed to be playing and the late stage matches. For the final, these so-called inclusively-priced tickets were listed at face value for over $2,000. For context, the lowest-priced tickets for the finals at Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018 cost less than $600 and $500 respectively.

However, analysis showed that even the cheapest of these low-cost tickets were quickly sold out and are being resold at several times their original value.

Category 4 resale prices were reaching over $40,000 for the World Cup final at New York/New Jersey Stadium, with the cheapest available option being $342.70 for a group stage match at Kansas City Stadium — a ticket that originally cost $70.

Car parking to cost more than some match tickets at previous World Cups

While the headline figures for attendance at the World Cup centre around the ticket prices, early indications show the cost of parking near the events in the U.S. will also be steep.

Not all of the host cities have yet revealed the parking costs for the fixtures, but of those that are available, a dynamic price structure appears to also be in place, with parking costing more as the tournament goes on and the matches become more consequential.

In Miami, parking for the group stage matches starts at $75, climbing to $175 for the bronze final. In Kansas City, it will cost $75 to park a car for the group stage and round of 32, rising to $126 to park outside the quarter-final. Parking a car at the 2026 tournament will be more expensive than some of the match tickets themselves at previous World Cups.

FIFA has typically worked with local authorities to run additional buses and other modes of transport for fans to and from stadiums at major tournaments. No concrete details have yet been announced for any similar plans for the 2026 World Cup, but some World Cup executives have suggested there will be public transport options given the number of fans travelling from abroad.

‘Record business’

When Gianni Infantino presented U.S. President Donald Trump with the first World Cup final ticket at a meeting in the Oval Office in August of this year, the president quipped: “You’re going to do record business here, I think.”

That much is undeniable. But there has been pushback to FIFA’s profit-driven model. During his successful election campaign to become mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani released footage calling on FIFA to abandon its dynamic pricing model and “put game over greed” for the upcoming tournament, saying: “The biggest sporting event in the world is happening in our backyard. But most New Yorkers will be priced out of watching it live.”

FIFA has defended its variable pricing structure, telling news outlets in a statement that it is based on the existing ticketing model in the host nations. “The pricing model adopted generally reflects the existing and developing market practice in our co-hosts for major entertainment and sporting events, soccer included. We are focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing but also prospective fans, and are offering group stage tickets starting at 60 U.S. dollars, a very competitive price point for a major global sporting event in the U.S.”

As for its resale platform strategy, FIFA said it “will provide fans looking to sell or purchase tickets on the secondary market with a safe and secure method to do so, as permitted by U.S. legislation”. With its resale fees, FIFA is undoubtedly looking to profit directly from secondary sales, instead of leaving the market open to third-party ticket resellers like Viagogo and StubHub. It says this will ensure “as much value as possible is retained for redistribution into the game globally”.

What remains to be seen is the impact this has for the future of the world’s most popular sport, which has erstwhile been praised for its power to unite the world, from its richest to its poorest corners.

SOURCES

• Fifa.com. (2025). Available at: TICKET PRODUCTS AND CATEGORIES [Accessed 12 Nov. 2025].

• ‌Fifacollectanalytics.com. (2025). [online] Available at: Ticket Prices (archived here.) [Accessed 13 Nov. 2025].‌

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