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In the AI propaganda war, Iran is winning
A joyless theocracy produces wittier videos than the Trump administration.
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Iran's propaganda warriors have deftly made use of AI, hip-hop-style lyrics and Lego figurines to get their message across.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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In previous decades, propaganda for murderous Middle Eastern regimes tended to be unpersuasive. As American forces rolled into the Iraqi capital in 2003, Saddam Hussein’s information minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf stood on a roof and claimed that “Baghdad is safe... the infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gate”. He added that God was “grilling their stomachs in hell”. Behind him, television audiences could see Iraqi soldiers fleeing for their lives.
