The Gen Z creators behind viral Iranian Lego-style AI videos

[0:00] if you're on the internet you've likely seen these highly popular iranian lego style videos [0:05] published almost daily these detailed videos with american and western cultural references [0:16] have taken the world by storm the group that makes these publishes across social media platforms [0:22] but recently had their youtube account shut down for showing violent content behind these videos [0:31] is it iranian government propaganda are they in iran or are they outside iran i spoke to the [0:38] creators behind the viral iranian lego style videos i reached out to the team on x introduced [0:44] myself and requested an interview they promptly responded back and asked where i was from [0:50] as an iranian journalist i did expect this and from there the conversation switched to persian [0:55] before agreeing to interview with me they asked if i was in support of the us and israel's war [1:01] with iran this was my response as a professional and impartial journalist my duty is to report [1:07] events as objectively as possible without the interference of my personal opinions as an [1:13] iranian i would never welcome the destruction of my country after another round of questions [1:19] these in english we agreed to the group's first interview with an iranian journalist and agreed [1:24] to do the interview in persian turns out explosive media is a small team of gen z creators 18 to 25 [1:32] years old they say they all reside in iran and most have never left the country their spokesperson who [1:38] requested anonymity said the initial goal of these videos was to show the outside world what iranians are [1:44] like educated culturally relevant and funny we know that the west has a bad perception of us they don't [1:54] know us at all we wanted to break down this wall of censorship we wanted to say that we're funny [1:59] funnier than you even we understand culture and the arts and we are incredibly educated we know and [2:05] understand your american culture well you don't unfortunately know as much about our culture we hope [2:11] that you learn more about ours while the explosive media team is clear that they support the government [2:17] they told me that their videos reflect their own independent political views we are committed to [2:22] the islamic republic that's our belief our point of view no one has to tell us that before the war we [2:30] made critical videos of the government just like other media companies that criticize their governments [2:35] but once there is a war internal fights no longer matter there has been some question as to whether [2:40] they work for the iranian government or have them as a client we did not say we work with the irgc [2:48] we're like any other media company in the world when they create something the rights for distribution [2:53] can be bought the rights for distribution of some of our videos in iran have sometimes been bought by [2:59] state media since the very first lego style videos came out there's been a lot of discussion as to [3:04] whether these videos constitute as disinformation or propaganda mark owen jones an expert in social media and [3:10] disinformation says the answer is a bit more complicated if i was to simplify it i would see this as [3:16] uh political satire uh creative political satire and a form of creative resistance against u.s imperialism [3:25] the fact that it's leveraged by the iranian regime of course that's just what they're going to do if [3:32] it's effective and successful and i think to try and frame it as either pro or anti-government or [3:38] government propaganda is a bit complicated whether satire or propaganda these videos speak to a moment [3:44] in social media and geopolitics one that the iranian government has adapted to and i think the the [3:50] regime have become very savvy about the importance of social media certainly domestically i think [3:56] internationally they've they've been savvy about that and it's not just social media trends that have [4:00] led pro-government iranians to making these videos the two and a half year gaza war has fundamentally [4:08] changed the landscape in media and people's perceptions of the u.s and israel but i really [4:13] do think that the gaza war has unleashed uh or has created a level of criticism of israel in u.s [4:20] politics and european politics that we have not seen before and i think the creators of these videos [4:25] and the iranian regime in general know that and they are using that to kind of emphasize um that this [4:31] war is not in the interest of americans but the interest in israel i think these are themes that [4:35] resonate very profoundly amongst not just the left but also the right or certain aspects of the right [4:40] the rise of explosive media and iran's new social media strategy has coincided with an internet and [4:46] communications blackout in iran a blackout that has left millions of iranians cut off from the rest of [4:51] the world so how do these videos manage to make it out iran has set up an internal internet system for [4:58] local companies and banks and for people who can afford it they buy vpns and even starlink [5:04] but explosive media doesn't use any of those the group applied for an internet license as a news [5:10] media company the license allows news outlets to connect to the global internet the process is long [5:16] and the criteria unclear as we wait for a possible deal to end this war explosive media says they too [5:23] hope for peace and in the meantime they say they'll keep making these videos perfect our fellow creator [5:32] layla there has done so much incredible reporting on this war and i think the thing that stood out [5:36] to me most from that was the guy who runs that page telling her you know as iranians they understand [5:42] you know the us and the west but they don't understand them and i think in years gone by [5:47] western media i think has done a really good job of kind of painting a certain narrative of other [5:52] parts of the world in this case iran and i find it fascinating that this generation is kind of using [5:57] social media to take back control of that narrative and kind of say look hey we're not that different [6:02] to you we also you know we follow the same trends and you know even down to having the same sense of [6:06] humor too yeah i think a similar thing stood out for me watching that it's the fact that they said [6:11] they're not necessarily pro irgc but since the war they are pro iran and they're for their country now [6:17] obviously there are reasons why they would say that because as you as leila mentioned there's an internet [6:22] license and there's a lot of surveillance but a recent gaman um poll which is again has its [6:28] limitations with speaking to people in iran but that found that 20 of iranians support the regime [6:33] so i think it's quite interesting that they would say you know we don't necessarily support the regime [6:38] but we don't support the destruction of our country either and that's why they're doing this [6:41] propaganda yeah and to both your points it's really interesting to see i think for so many years iran's [6:46] propaganda has always been kind of uh focused on rallying people inside the country look at our [6:52] strength we're winning this war look at our fight here's a missile parade or what you know here's the [6:57] supreme leader speaking and now it feels like like you said they're trying to project an image of [7:03] themselves to the outside world and gain that control and uh you know we are seeing kind of a [7:08] divide in america and the conversation happening of uh was iran an existential threat um is this war [7:13] america's war what happened to america first and so it is kind of achieving that propaganda that they [7:19] want to at least drive the conversation yeah of you know this is how at least it's being viewed in [7:24] iran so it's it's really interesting to see them you and especially using ai as a tool to kind of enact [7:28] this change they know all eyes are on them and they knew they were going to get an outside audience [7:33] looking at their videos and i think um leila did another video the other week where she interviewed [7:38] an expert who said you can tell that this new propaganda this new wave of propaganda from this war [7:44] has been created by a younger sort of generation to your point that propaganda internal propaganda was [7:50] created by a more traditional older generation it was more religious it was sort of like icon [7:56] iconography etc and this is very very kind of aware of the world um aware of social trends [8:04] using rap music etc and and you can tell there's been this huge shift so yeah i think it's really [8:10] like interesting