Adversary Intelligence — 2026-05-11

Iranian Information Operations Leverage Modular Influence Architecture

Explosive Media, a Tehran-based animation firm of under 10 employees whose leadership acknowledged the Iranian government as a customer, has released roughly 10 Lego-style videos since hostilities began. A March 10 video watermarked by the IRGC-linked Revayat-e Fath Institute reached tens of millions of views within three days per GINC, with two pro-Iran networks accumulating over a billion X views in the first month per Small Wars Journal. YouTube removed the company's channel on April 12 for spam and deceptive-practices violations, though the videos remain accessible on X. Small Wars Journal reports that US embassies in Bahrain, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan cabled the State Department for more proactive counter-IO, following the April 2025 closure of State's Counter Information Manipulation and Interference Office.

Analysis
Iran's modular attribution architecture, IRGC-watermarked state media, affiliated outlets, and an ostensibly independent animation studio, has collapsed IO production economics such that a team of under ten achieves continental reach within seventy-two hours, per Small Wars Journal. The ambiguity absorbs attribution resources and insulates the campaign from node removal; YouTube's April 12 takedown confirmed this: the videos migrated intact to X. Explosive Media may align with IRGC messaging through shared grievance rather than direction, meaning Tehran achieved comparable reach without attributable state links. At least one additional major platform is likely to act within 90 days, while the April 2025 closure of State's counter-IO office has removed the institutional anchor for a coordinated federal response.

1 sources

Legos at War: Iranian Information Operations - Small Wars Journal