Iran’s Lego Videos Reached 83 Million Users in a Month
Canada traced Iran AI propaganda from low-engagement Farsi videos to a global English audience
Canada traced Iranian AI propaganda from low-engagement Farsi videos to a global English audience
On March 7, 2026, Explosive Media changed its language and its cast.
The Tehran-based outlet stopped relying on human hosts speaking Farsi and released an English-language video featuring AI-generated Lego-style figures. Russian and Iranian state-controlled media accounts, including RT and Iran Radio PS, promoted it on X within 12 hours.
Then the video travelled without them.
By the end of March, Rapid Response Mechanism Canada estimated that at least 83 million users worldwide had viewed Explosive Media’s videos. Its broader estimate was higher: 200 million users had likely seen at least one clip that month.
The figures appear in a nine-page assessment by Global Affairs Canada. The department assessed the campaign as likely the most widely viewed foreign information operation since the start of 2026, ahead of malign activity attributed to Russia or any other state actor.
It did not begin that way.
The First Version Barely Travelled
Explosive Media opened Telegram and Instagram accounts on June 25, 2025. According to the Canadian assessment, these were the two most popular platforms in Iran. The outlet produced one-minute vertical videos about what the report calls the “12 Day War.” Human hosts spoke in Farsi to a Farsi-speaking audience.
Engagement was low.
The subject did not change when the audience did. The presentation changed. On March 7, English replaced Farsi, generative AI replaced the human hosts, and Lego-style figures carried the message.
The new videos promoted the claim that Iran had “won the propaganda war” in the Persian Gulf. They criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the hostilities and sometimes targeted Israel and Gulf Arab states.
The format quickly reached Western audiences. Explosive Media opened accounts on TikTok, Rumble, Threads, BlueSky, UpScrolled, Spotify and SoundCloud. It continued producing Farsi material on Telegram, using both AI figures and human presenters, while distributing the English videos worldwide.
TikTok brought the largest audience. Views there exceeded those on every other platform measured in the report. One example reproduced by Global Affairs shows British broadcaster GB News sharing an Explosive Media clip on TikTok and receiving high engagement.
The campaign also drew coverage from the BBC, CNN and The New York Times. The Canadian assessment says that attention extended the videos’ reach.
But the first boost and the later spread came from different sources.
State Accounts Opened the Door, Then the Crowd Took Over
RRM Canada found that Russian and Iranian state-controlled media helped push the first Lego-style video toward mainstream audiences on March 7. Their later role was small.
Of the operation’s 83 million measured views, 4 million came from accounts with internet protocol locations in Russia or Iran. The report puts that share at 4.38 per cent. It concludes that state-controlled outlets introduced the material to new audiences but played little part in sustaining its spread through March.
A network RRM Canada assesses as state-linked received most of its measured views from accounts outside Iran and Russia.
The videos also reached people who might not normally seek out material about a war. Global Affairs cites the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which attributed the campaign’s traction to humour and its appeal to people with little political interest in the conflict. The report also cites 404 Media’s observation that the Lego-style format used a visual language recognized worldwide.
The operation expanded that approach. The report cites an Institute for Strategic Dialogue estimate that broader Iranian AI operations, including videos with Minecraft and Pixar-style characters, accumulated more than one billion views during the first month of the conflict.
Global Affairs says the use of youth-oriented intellectual property made it likely that people under 16 saw the material. It also found a growing number of copycat creators making similar Lego-style videos.
Platforms removed some original clips for violating their terms of service. RRM Canada could not capture every view. The report therefore separates the 83 million users it says viewed the videos from its broader estimate of 200 million.
The campaign’s reach was visible. Its connection to the Iranian state required closer examination.
How Canada Traced the Iran AI Propaganda Network
Explosive Media says it is independent. It denies links to the Iranian state and asks its audience for cryptocurrency donations.
RRM Canada reached a different assessment through open-source analysis. The report does not claim that the outlet has acknowledged state direction. It follows a recurring human presenter through the outlet’s own posts and into the political network around Saeed Jalili.
The presenter, identified as “Individual 1,” appeared in more than 20 Farsi-language videos on Explosive Media’s Telegram channel. He had appeared there since the outlet’s first posts in June 2025. RRM Canada assesses that he was likely involved in producing its content.
On March 17, 2026, an AI Lego-style video on Explosive Media’s Instagram account named “M. Taha Ansari Mohseri” as a collaborator. The report says Mohseri strongly resembles Individual 1. It also notes that Meta requires a named collaborator to approve the designation.
The trail then returns to June 2024.
Mohseri worked on Jalili’s social media team during Jalili’s unsuccessful campaign for the Iranian presidency. He continued to appear frequently on Jalili’s official Telegram and Instagram accounts. Jalili represents Iran’s Supreme Leader on the Supreme National Security Council.
In June 2025, Mohseri appeared on Jalili’s “aqave_president” Telegram account and directed users to follow him at Explosive Media. RRM Canada assesses that Jalili or his associates likely consented to using the account to direct subscribers toward the outlet.
On that evidence, the department assesses that Explosive Media is likely linked to Jalili.
The wording matters. The report says “likely linked.” It identifies a collaborator, documents his role in Jalili’s political media operation and records the promotion of Explosive Media through Jalili’s account. It also records the outlet’s denial.
What it does not dispute is the scale.
The Small Outlet Was No Longer Small
Explosive Media began with human presenters, one-minute Farsi videos and low engagement. Eight months later, a change in format put its work before a global audience.
The outlet spread across nearly every major social platform. Other accounts reproduced its Lego-style clips. Major news organizations covered them. Platforms removed them. New creators copied them. RRM Canada says many Canadian users likely encountered the videos between March and June 2026.
State-controlled media helped with the first boost. Most measured views did not come from accounts located in Iran or Russia. Researchers cited by Global Affairs credited the videos’ humour, appeal to politically uninvested viewers and widely recognized style for carrying them beyond the Farsi-language audience Explosive Media had struggled to reach.
On June 25, 2025, the outlet was speaking mainly to Farsi users through human hosts.
On March 7, 2026, it switched languages and gave the screen to Lego-style figures.
In March, Canada counted at least 83 million users.
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Source Documents
Global Affairs Canada. (2026, July 10). Explosive Media: Iranian state-linked AI Lego-style videos claiming that Tehran has “won the propaganda war.”