Toy company treads cautiously with Lego-style pro-Iranian AI video

AI Video & Visuals


Some controversial but prolific pro-Iranian AI videos include: lego movie The Lego Group, based in Denmark, has remained silent on the issue, although it shows no signs of slowing down.

The popularity of the videos, many of which were created by a group calling itself Explosive Media, has raised legal questions, including whether Lego, the maker of famous toy blocks and branded products, is concerned about its intellectual property being used without permission.

The only repercussions Explosive Media has faced so far have come from Alphabet’s YouTube video platform, which suspended accounts belonging to pro-Iran groups.

“We have terminated your channel for violating our spam, deceptive behavior, and fraud policies,” the statement provided. The National read.

But the video continues to be posted on nearly every other platform and has garnered hundreds of millions of views since the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28.

One of the many videos created and uploaded by Explosive Media shows President Donald Trump having frightening dreams about the fallout from launching attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure, including extreme suffering in the United States and across the Middle East. The film concludes with Trump tearfully eating a taco, a nod to his nickname, “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

From April, The National has reached out to the LEGO Group’s media team several times via email, web portal and LinkedIn to see if the company would like to comment on the intellectual property used for this purpose, but has not yet received a response.

The closest thing to a response came from a PR firm representing the company’s interests in various countries.

“Thank you for your email and for contacting us. The LEGO Group has no comments to comment,” the email said.

Explosive Media’s video has sparked ample discussion in technology and policy circles.

During a discussion at the AI+ Expo in Washington, D.C. AI on the front lines: Lessons from the Iran conflict Talk about Lego Video in Iran dominated the conversation.

Max Lesser, a senior analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said Lego’s lack of response to the video was a completely different approach compared to similar incidents in 2020.

At the time, a state-run media group affiliated with China used toy bricks similar to Lego to criticize the US response to the coronavirus pandemic.