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News & Current Events Apr 14, 2026 at 10:46 PM

Iran slams YouTube ban on pro-Iranian group’s Lego-style AI videos

Posted by avdvetf


Iran slams YouTube ban on pro-Iranian group’s Lego-style AI videos
Al Jazeera
Iran slams YouTube ban on pro-Iranian group’s Lego-style AI videos
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says the move aims to 'suppress the truth about their illegal war on Iran'.

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iamnotafbiagnt 4 days ago +1228
Lego unironically probably got it taken down or told YouTube to take it down
1228
NeuroticNabarlek 4 days ago +555
Yep, Iran should have done megablocks videos instead. Rookie mistake.
555
Smith6612 4 days ago +71
If that doesn't work, then they need to double down and use some White Label Block name.
71
Mysterious_Lesions 4 days ago +29
Rose art.
29
EFIW1560 4 days ago +8
Man why do roseart crayons suck so hard.
8
doomgoblin 4 days ago +17
Definitely not the tastiest.
17
EFIW1560 4 days ago +10
Yeah they got the red all wrong. The day they switched from Crayola to roseart in MREs was the day America began its steep descent.
10
doomgoblin 4 days ago +2
😂 don’t get me started on teal.
2
Medallicat 4 days ago +2
US Marine detected
2
RockstarAgent 4 days ago +5
K’nex
5
deejaesnafu 4 days ago +4
Lincoln logs
4
bnh1978 4 days ago +2
Why does it gotta be white?
2
Smith6612 3 days ago +1
*Insert Generic no-brand phrase here*
1
sk1nnyjeans 4 days ago +11
People used to make homemade music videos using The Sims and put them on YouTube, I’m sure it could make a resurgence 20 years later.
11
GraphiteOxide 4 days ago +2
Dang that awakened some nostalgia I totally forgot about
2
russellvt 4 days ago +7
Technically, it wasn't Iran, but some marketing firm (AMG?) that was "hired."
7
Atralis 4 days ago +2
*I'd rather lose the war than settle for megablocks* - unidentified Iranian official.
2
iamfareel 4 days ago +1
K'nex*
1
PrincessNakeyDance 4 days ago +103
Yeah. In general Lego is pretty adamant about not making war Lego sets. So I’m sure they really didn’t like the use of their IP in violent war propaganda videos.
103
puppetlord 4 days ago +35
Meanwhile: Lego Star Wars. /s
35
wartopuk 4 days ago +17
Star Wars is science fiction. Lego is against any kind of modern depection of war. They also had the pirates and castle lines.
17
Apophthegmata 4 days ago +10
What I'm hearing is that we just have to wait a couple hundred years and then we can have the Battle of Faluja Lego set.
10
wartopuk 4 days ago +5
You can just buy oxford blocks from Korea. Brick quality is as good as Lego and they do modern military, a lot of their vehicles are based on real Korean military vehicles.
5
RapaNow 4 days ago +1
Which is apparent from this playlist : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OHAvMgQHcc&list=PLc4-CE1ZabtPBWvvUKZgSRby5MsHpks-k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OHAvMgQHcc&list=PLc4-CE1ZabtPBWvvUKZgSRby5MsHpks-k)
1
HoldFast31 4 days ago +8
Lego is a Danish company, so like... you're probably right, but maaayyybeeeeee...
8
mcirillo 4 days ago +5
They should try Pokemon next. I hear Nintendo is pretty chill
5
iamnotafbiagnt 4 days ago +1
They already did that
1
szczszqweqwe 4 days ago +14
Probably, but also, as fun to watch as thos videos are, it's unlikely that strong anti US President propaganda videos will be available on american platofmr when those two countries are in a war.
14
rube_X_cube 4 days ago +10
Seems pretty reasonable, tbh
10
[deleted] 4 days ago +805
[deleted]
805
FewResearcher2606 4 days ago +277
Even before this shutdown, YouTube was banned inside iran and was only accessible via VPN. It was not only YouTube though, the same Twitter that they use to post against the west is also banned for Iranian people, even before the internet shutdown.
277
FewResearcher2606 4 days ago +68
For those who are curious, the current internet shutdown began with the war. Before that, the internet was there, but nearly all websites or social media apps were blocked and could only be accessed with VPN. Apps such as YouTube, Listnook, Instagram, Twitter (or X), WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and many others were blocked and to use them you had to find a reliable VPN. But that was a hard thing to do because the government did its best to block them too.
68
plsbeagoodneighbor 4 days ago +61
The Internet shutdown began during the protests
61
FewResearcher2606 4 days ago +12
Yes and no. It began during the protest, but they opened it again for like 3 weeks, then the war happened and they shut it down again
12
Mortimer1234 4 days ago +11
Yes, so it just began while they were silently slaughtering 30k+ protestors, but they opened up again for a bit
11
FewResearcher2606 4 days ago +5
They do it in every protest to be precise. 1404 (2026) 1401 (2022) 1398 (2019) In these protests, they cut off the internet for everyone
5
Dark_World_Blues 4 days ago +16
So, they ban YouTube but they use it. In all my life I didn't think there are countries that banned YouTube, maybe except for North Korea.
16
Finmail 4 days ago +30
You basically summed up the entire IRGC/Iranian leadership. Most of these super-religious, h******* militant leaders lead a double life. They send their families out west to get educated, and spend in excess of luxury goods. Even currently, IRGC members and government officials have access to the internet, while the citizens don't. Rules for you, but not for me.
30
Dark_World_Blues 4 days ago +8
Yeah, a classic example of rule for thee but not for me. They will probably justify why they bend the rules to themselves and to their families but not to the public.
8
Primary-Debate-549 4 days ago +3
Basic, first step for propaganda. You must create a split information landscape for the people you depend on vs the world. Nobody will believe Iran's viewpoint is reasonable if they have access to real information (in other words: Youtube is only the first step). Of course, then they f*** it up. 95% Iranians want them gone (and at least half of those want them dead). And odds are pretty good it would actually have been better without propaganda.
3
kalmah 4 days ago +9
It's banned in China too.
9
Dark_World_Blues 4 days ago +2
I didn't know that
2
alpy-dev 4 days ago +5
Türkiye did ban Wikipedia and YouTube for a long while.
5
Dark_World_Blues 4 days ago +1
Are they still banned
1
alpy-dev 4 days ago +6
Not anymore, but they stayed banned for multiple years.
6
FewResearcher2606 4 days ago +4
Yeah. But it gets even worse. They banned all of these, and then started selling VPN to the people. so unfortunately this led to mass usage of VPNs by everyone, including children (my little brother started using VPN from the age of 10) So, this ban essentially did nothing to prevent the population from using these apps or websites , telegram and Instagram are still extremely popular despite their efforts to make us use government sponsored (and monitored) apps.
4
PositiveUse 4 days ago +20
China Russia Iran and many more use our western tools like social media to dismantle our societies …
20
CircumspectCapybara 4 days ago +13
*If those [Listnookors] could read, they would be extremely upset.*
13
Regular_Print_7650 4 days ago +2
Same country that killed 30k protestors and has the highest child execution rate in the world. But libs on here will be crying over them getting banned on youtube of course
2
elpresidente000 3 days ago +1
Glad someone said it.
1
GeorgeWashingfun 4 days ago +113
Iran complaining about "censorship" is funnier than any meme they could ever cook up.
113
Wynter_born 4 days ago +27
Anyone else tired of 'slammed'? It's quickly becoming a bread sandwich in terms of journalistic impact. Someone rejects an opinion? Oh hell naw that doesn't get the click. They SLAMMED their opinion, now we're generating. It's practically a snub if a high-profile entity doesn't get Slammed once every few weeks.
27
Piggywonkle 4 days ago +5
> It's quickly becoming People have been slamming 'slammed' for probably close to two decades at this point. Maybe when the other half of the US can read at least at a middle school level, we'll see verbs that aren't exclusively appropriated from WWE and UFC.
5
____DEADPOOL_______ 4 days ago +2
I don't know about everyone else but I feel like I've been suplexed by John Cena himself every time I read these articles.
2
XtremeBadgerVII 4 days ago +113
lol YouTube was banned in Iran before this conflict even started and now the whole internet is shut off there. This is just pandering to useful idiots in the west (listnookors)
113
xnmyl 4 days ago +3
You're a Listnookor. Do you feel the pandering was effective?
3
CoryOpostrophe 4 days ago +92
Do Lincoln logs. Really get him in the republican jewels
92
[deleted] 4 days ago +12
[deleted]
12
iamnotafbiagnt 4 days ago +5
Brokeback mountain 2 staring jd Vance and a leather couch
5
TheOriginalBroCone 4 days ago +4
Lol I haven't heard someone talk about those in like a decade
4
KriptiKFate_Cosplay 4 days ago +20
Fuckin' slammed, at least they didn't hit out
20
Gargamel813 4 days ago +2
Berated by the backlash.
2
CanWeGoHomeMa 4 days ago +3
Will trump CLAP back?
3
SLR107FR-31 4 days ago +34
The same country that censors women's appearance outside...
34
CucumberWisdom 4 days ago +47
Sorry Iran but slop is slop. No exceptions
47
Dauntless_Idiot 4 days ago +6
If it can't trick me into thinking its not AI then its slop.
6
ProfessorZhu 4 days ago +3
But if it can, then it is a monster that needs to be destroyed
3
TheModWhoShaggedMe 4 days ago +26
YouTube has plenty of exceptions of AI slop. I skipped past at least five of them earlier.
26
c_c_c__combobreaker 4 days ago +10
Slop wasn't the issue because there's tons of AI slop on YouTube. I think it was the use of LEGO style animation?
10
CircumspectCapybara 4 days ago +65
Good lol. We don't need more IRGC propaganda AI slop flooding our feeds, and western platforms are under no obligation to host propaganda on behalf of states warring with the west or to aid in their cyber ops campaigns. The IRGC can always find another private platform that would welcome them, or they could make their own YouTube and post music videos and deepfakes all day long. A subset of Listnookors would definitely join and watch it. And they could invite ISIS too, since that entity also seems curiously to have been de-platformed by these *horrible, biased* western platforms.
65
dtjunkie19 4 days ago +72
Can we ban MAGA AI Slop fascist propaganda flooding our feeds as well?
72
[deleted] 4 days ago +44
[deleted]
44
dtjunkie19 4 days ago +4
Listnook? No. Facebook (not that I'm on Facebook unless I have to be)? Other social media? Absolutely, unless I actively block or hide content.
4
sundae_diner 4 days ago +2
Yes. In the last few days we had "jesus trump". There was the trump gaza extravaganza a few weeks earlier.  So yeah,  maga AI propaganda post **have** been flooding my listnook feed.
2
CircumspectCapybara 4 days ago +22
How much unironic (i.e., they're not posting it to mock it) MAGA content are you seeing on Listnook or YouTube? Meanwhile, many Listnookors unironically simp for the Islamic Republic of Iran and their propaganda videos. I'm fine with platforms where concerned citizens can get together to criticize their government, and Listnook and YouTube and many such others are just that. But if ISIS started making YouTube videos, I'd have no problem if YouTube removed them and de-platformed them, they're a terrorist organization and their values don't align with YouTube's, and YouTube is a private platform who has the freedom of speech right against compelled speech, and freedom of association to choose not to associate with that garbage. If YouTube doesn't want to be associated with ISIS, if YouTube doesn't want to be associated with the IRGC, no complaints there.
22
TJ-LEED-AP 4 days ago +5
Listnook and YouTube are covered in MAGA content… what..
5
GlobuleNamed 4 days ago +18
We need to keep having Jesus Trump showing the error of our ways, I suppose....
18
Kakkoister 4 days ago +5
Or, how about neither? We can do neither.
5
Zib559 4 days ago +3
Why not get their own platform and upload to it instead of "the devil's" platform?
3
SgtBaxter 4 days ago +3
There’s a ban? I can’t tell with all the Lego videos I see.
3
mike194827 4 days ago +6
Just ban all AI videos and they can't complain about this specific targeted ban
6
Pale_Potential_409 4 days ago +7
As far as propaganda goes, these were fire. 
7
Jabjab345 4 days ago +48
I can't lie, those were legit good propaganda and pretty catchy
48
HugsForUpvotes 4 days ago +40
They were pretty objectively terrible. Also, this is a government that killed at least 7,007 of their own civilians in January and probably significantly more than that. Let's not let our hatred of Trump blind our values.
40
TorchbeareroftheStar 4 days ago +64
From what I've seen this is how listnookors have been reacting - Trump and White House post edgy memes: "Trump is so cringe, leaders shouldn't be acting like that, his memes suck" Iran and the IRGC post edgy meme: "wow these memes are funny and relatable, Trump got owned!"
64
ForwardHuckleberry26 4 days ago +47
Tbf, Trump's memes are so absolutely deranged and insane that it isn't hard at all for the IRGC or anyone to make better ones
47
mjduce 4 days ago +15
Both sides are garbage, but you have to admit Iran's Lego videos were bangers - even if the propaganda itself isn't flying your kite
15
agaloch2314 4 days ago +2
Not remotely the same. The Iranian videos are clever, at least.
2
ProfessorZhu 4 days ago +3
"When I post shit, that is incomprehensible. People hate it! But when they post stuff that is good once a blue moon, and people like the good ones!? Absolute dog shit, must be brainwashing!"
3
Jabjab345 4 days ago +23
I'm not pro Iran to be clear, but the videos were catchy nonetheless. I am however very against the pointless war.
23
meltdown_popcorn 4 days ago +8
The Iranian propaganda creators were really smart. They were tapped into western social media's Trump opposition and riding the wave of the already-growing sentiment and judging by the responses, they work. Much more intentional and effective than the chaos-bombs the Trump admin uses. Obviously, anyone in the other bubble wouldn't recognize that the Iranians are just using American's own criticisms of the Trump regime as their propaganda source. Just judging by the conservative sublistnook, it all probably sounds made up to them.
8
_Lucille_ 4 days ago +3
I don't like the type of argument where people go "you have done this horrible thing, so whatever you do is terrible/whatever you say is wrong". The world doesn't exist in black and white, nor does it exist in a linear scale. Even given how terrible the Iranian government is, the propaganda videos worked because it struck a cord. They don't just go viral because they are terrible - reality is that they worked because people agree with various parts (like trump being a pedo). America has done it's fair share of dirty work as well, does that somehow invalidate media with patriotic tones? (Like the usa song Trump kept using) It is fine to criticize the terrible things the regime has done against its citizens while also saying "that's a fun video and they have got a point".
3
xmuskorx 4 days ago +6
They were trash rate tiktok slop propaganda
6
tupe12 4 days ago +2
If nothing else, they proved that the anti-ai crowd has lost. Every time someone called it ai slop they got downvoted and trash talked, while everyone else cheered it. And before someone what-abouts, yes the Trump administration is also guilty of posting ai generated propaganda. It doesn’t matter if you’re left or right, critics of this sort of content are going to dwindle more and more
2
Kakkoister 3 days ago +1
It's proved no such thing lmao (also wrong, most of the anti-AI comments here are in the positive). Negative sentiment is continually growing against AI. Just because we're not at "majority of world understands now" doesn't mean it's lost, it takes time for people to learn and understand why they shouldn't be supportive of it. There is also A LOT of hypocrisy from people around this specific video because of the highly political nature. There are a lot of people in the far-left especially who will argue that this video is more important for the sake of pushing back against Trump than the fight against AI slop. They're the type of people who consistently are hypocrites with their morals, and are also even more terminally online and ready to dig deep in comments sections to downvote opinions they don't like.
1
tupe12 3 days ago +1
I’m not talking about “here” specifically, I’m talking about how the rest of the internet has reacted. Outside of the purist spaces, places where the general sentiment was that ai generated content is “slop” have been spreading those Lego videos and treating them the same way as non-ai content. It’s not the first time ai content has been getting that sort of attention, but it’s how this stuff gets normalized online. And the more normal it becomes, the less people who will call ai “slop”. It won’t happen in days, it’ll happen over years.
1
[deleted] 4 days ago
[deleted]
0
No-Space937 4 days ago +2
You are aware that Iran is also the "right"
2
landomakesatable 4 days ago +3
Those videos are crazy good.
3
enterthehawkeye 4 days ago +3
Come on an SLAM and welcome to IRAN
3
xmuskorx 4 days ago +6
Lol. Coming from a place that 100% blocked all internet....
6
GarnetOblivion1 4 days ago +11
We don’t want that AI slop
11
skeleton949 4 days ago +15
They were terrorist AI slop. They won't be missed.
15
LateNightCoffeeShop 4 days ago +2
Damn i love them little lego vids
2
wokkizlish 3 days ago +2
Slammed? To slams you say? Slammed? To slams you slam? Slam? Slam slam slam slam. Slamed?
2
Mana_Seeker 4 days ago +31
Nice No need to host openly hostile propaganda on Western platforms
31
sngldad13 4 days ago +57
Listnook does it with glee
57
CircumspectCapybara 4 days ago +41
Islamic Listnooklutionary Guard Corps.
41
Necessary-Visit-2011 4 days ago +13
Never got why companies do that. They live in a western economy and benefit from a western system yet are actively anti-west.
13
MacaronMost 4 days ago +9
Because that’s what gets clicks. True capitalists will never pass on easy money, no matter how hypocritical it makes them look like.
9
iuuznxr 4 days ago +5
"The capitalists will sell us the rope..." - Lenin
5
Benbot2000 4 days ago -1
Oh, did they ban the White House?
-1
Mana_Seeker 4 days ago +13
Youtube bans Iran propaganda Listnook user asks: What about White house? Logic
13
hopium_od 4 days ago +4
I think it's more of a sign of the times. American social media channels are so frequently being used to destabilise Europe democracy and the republican party is being led by a group with the stated aim of empowering far-right nationalists on our continent.
4
Awsmdustin69 4 days ago +3
I swear these people making these article’s titles just finished watching Space Jam.
3
AGrandNewAdventure 4 days ago +4
Conservatives are the biggest snowflakes you could ever find, and they're also really f****** weird.
4
TruthSeekerHuey 4 days ago +6
Bring them back they were BANGERS
6
dr_obfuscation 4 days ago +2
Ohhhh, Cheeto man really didn't like them talking about how much he rapes children, huh?
2
taisui 4 days ago -2
So creative, imagine if their government is not so.....butt hurt.
-2
Probably10thAccount 4 days ago +1
Freedom of speech crowd around?
1
864rad 4 days ago +1
Iran has more important things to worry about other than YouTube videos.
1
Capital-Control308 4 days ago -1
I love those videos.
-1
Specialist-Affect701 4 days ago +1
It’s not propaganda if it’s all true 
1
tupe12 4 days ago +1
I wonder how the Iranian people who haven’t had access to YouTube for a good while feel seeing that headline
1
Berkuts_Lance_Plus 4 days ago +1
Oh gosh oh frick, not the hecking slamming!
1
Ulq2525 3 days ago +1
Slam? What kind of dinosaur wrote this? Did color exist when this dope was born?
1
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