YouTube has banned the pro-Iran AI animation channel “Explosive Media” for violating platform policies, a YouTube spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday.
“We terminated the channel for violating our spam, deceptive practices, and scams policies,” the spokesperson told AFP.
Prior to their removal from the site, Explosive Media had initially been suspended on March 27, according to the spokesperson.
According to AFP, the self-described independent channel, widely suspected of ties to Iran’s government, rose to fame during Operation Roaring Lion for producing pro-Iran Lego AI animation videos that have drawn millions of views.
In addition, US media outlets claimed on Wednesday that the group was removed from Instagram, though they remain active on other social media platforms such as X/Twitter and Telegram, AFP reported.
Iran has used such AI imagery before, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim News Agency sharing an AI propaganda video using Lego characters and models on March 10, blaming Israel and the US for the strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, on February 28, which it claims killed 168 people.
According to the apparent watermark, the video had been generated by the state-run Revayat-e Fath institute.
A representative for Explosive Media said in an April 11 BBC interview that the Iranian government was a “customer” of the group, though he denied that the group was employed by the Islamic regime.
The representative, identified only as “Mr. Explosive,” said that his team consists of fewer than 10 people, and they chose to use Lego-style graphics “because it is a world language.”
Their choice to use this methodology appears to have led various countries, including Iranian and Russian state media, to regularly share it on X/Twitter.
The propaganda videos produced by the group often make use of factual inaccuracies, such as Iran capturing a downed US fighter jet pilot, and successful Iranian strikes on key locations across Israel, the Gulf States, and the US military.
James Genn contributed to this report.