The White House has shared a video on social media that combines footage from the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III with real clips of US fighter jets and strikes on Iran, set to a Childish Gambino track. The post, which had been viewed more than 50 million times on X by Sunday, has drawn criticism for trivialising the ongoing conflict.
The move comes as the human toll of the war continues to mount. Military investigators have indicated that US forces may be responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school, which killed scores of children. The Red Crescent has reported more than 1,300 deaths in Iran since the war began, while the US has lost six soldiers to retaliatory Iranian attacks.
Experts argue that the blending of real violence with memes and entertainment reflects a society desensitised to war. Iain Overton, director of Action on Armed Violence, said: 'We have an intimacy of war that we’ve never witnessed before. People are able to watch war close up on their phone in their living room.'
The White House has previously shared a SpongeBob meme alongside a drone strike clip, and in January posted an AI-manipulated image of an arrest. A spokesperson responded to criticism by saying: 'The memes will continue.' Experts warn that such tactics erode public trust in official information.
Meanwhile, Google’s reverse-image search tool has been found to produce inaccurate AI summaries of misleading visuals related to the conflict, according to NewsGuard Reality Check. In one instance, Google’s AI repeated false claims that a fire at a residential tower in Sharjah was a CIA building struck by an Iranian missile.
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have seen a surge in betting on geopolitical outcomes, including the timing of strikes and Iran’s next supreme leader. Polymarket issued a notice amid the increased activity, as millions of dollars are wagered on the future of the Middle East.
