Iran’s Infowar: Lego, AI and ever tightening control

The information front has been central to the Iranian government’s war effort.

For an external audience, there is an innovative online strategy that has consisted of AI Lego, memes and hip hop diss tracks directed at Donald Trump and the MAGA base. But this coexists with more brutal domestic tactics: crackdowns, arrests and internet blackouts.

The result has been the Iranian authorities making use of the internet for PR internationally, while simultaneously preventing the Iranian people from openly accessing the net themselves.

Contributors: Ali Hashem – Correspondent, Al Jazeera English Mehran Kamrava – Professor of Government, Georgetown University in Qatar Tara Kangarlou – Journalist & Author, The Heartbeat of Iran Maral Karimi – Lecturer, Toronto Metropolitan University

The killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil unfolded in the manner that so many Israeli assassinations of journalists in Gaza have – minute by minute, hour by hour, in a pattern that has become shockingly familiar. There’s the surveillance, the strike, the obstruction of rescue and then, the denial – Israel’s insistence that it does not target journalists, medics or rescue workers.

Pakistan has found itself at the centre of one of the world’s most consequential stories  – by hosting talks between the United States and Iran, brokering ceasefires, earning the very public praise of Donald Trump and making headlines around the world.

But this PR moment is obscuring a great deal, including an undercover war with Afghanistan and a crushing cost-of-living crisis at home. We speak to Amber Rahim Shamsi about the domestic politics behind Pakistan’s diplomatic moment in the sun.