Iran-targeted AI-powered disinformation pinned on Israel

Iran has been targeted by Israel with an artificial intelligence-powered PRISONBREAK disinformation campaign spreading anti-government propaganda across social media in a bid to spur a revolution, according to CyberScoop.

At least 50 social media accounts on X, formerly Twitter, which were created two years ago have been leveraged by Israel to spread AI-generated content showing instability and chaos in Iran in June before concluding with the distribution of another AI-generated video of an attack against Iran's Evin Prison that coincided with an actual airstrike on June 24, a report from Citizen Lab and Clemson University disinformation researcher Darren Linvill revealed.

"The exact timing of the videos posting, while the bombing at the Evin Prison was allegedly still happening, points towards the conclusion that it was part of a premeditated and well-synchronized influence operation," said researchers.

Meanwhile, Israeli firms Archimedes Group and Team Jorge have been discovered to peddle disinformation-for-hire services to governments. Such a development comes after Tel Aviv-based STOIC was identified by Meta and OpenAI to have been supporting Israeli state-backed disinformation.