Experts Warn: Iran Conflict Fuels Disinformation Campaigns in Poland

The Middle East conflict has unleashed a flood of disinformation in Poland, with false narratives targeting public anxiety and deepening social divisions, experts warn.

The ongoing tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran have triggered an information warfare campaign that has reached Polish social media and news platforms, according to specialists monitoring digital threats.

Agnieszka Lipińska, who heads the Disinformation Analysis Center at NASK, a state research institute focusing on cybersecurity, says these campaigns deliberately aim to heighten public fear.

“Some posts have gone as far as claiming that World War III is already underway or suggesting that Poland’s government was caught unprepared and unaware of planned attacks,” Lipińska explained.

Among the most troubling false narratives circulating in Poland are antisemitic themes, including claims that Jews were being evacuated to Poland following the outbreak of fighting in the Middle East. Lipińska noted this narrative draws on existing conspiracy theories, including one about a supposed “Heavenly Jerusalem” to be created on Polish territory.

Other misinformation included a false report that Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science was illuminated in solidarity with Israel on February 28. While the building was lit in blue, pink, and green that day, the display marked Rare Disease Day, an annual medical awareness campaign, and had no connection to the Middle East conflict.

The peak of such disinformation in Poland was recorded between February 28 and March 3, targeting primarily social media users. According to NASK, these misleading messages are designed to polarize public opinion and erode trust in state institutions.

On the global stage, the disinformation campaign has been equally sophisticated. One widely shared fake video used footage from the military video game War Thunder, presenting it as evidence that Iran had shot down a U.S. F-15 fighter jet in Kuwait. The game’s developers later condemned the misuse of their content to spread false information. British media reported that one such manipulated video posted on Instagram received nearly 79 million views.

Artificial intelligence has further complicated fact-checking efforts. Malachy Browne of The New York Times documented a case where Grok, the AI chatbot on platform X (formerly Twitter), incorrectly labeled a genuine image shared by Iranian authorities as fake. The photograph showed graves prepared for victims of a missile strike on a girls’ school in Minab where more than 170 people, mostly students, were killed. The AI erroneously claimed the image originated from Indonesia during the 2021 COVID-19 pandemic.

Agnieszka Skruczaj-Olejnik, a statistician and psychologist from SWPS University in Warsaw, explained why such disinformation proves effective. “Disinformation works through three main psychological mechanisms,” she said. “First, it plays on emotion, making internet users more impulsive and less analytical. Second, repeated exposure blurs people’s memory of where a claim originated, making it seem credible simply through familiarity. Finally, this creates cognitive uncertainty, where people begin to assume widely shared content must be reliable.”

Modern technology has made spreading disinformation significantly easier. A single operator with multiple social media accounts and AI tools can generate numerous variations of the same false narrative quickly and at scale.

NASK identifies several common techniques used in disinformation campaigns: clickbait headlines designed to provoke emotional responses, impersonation of credible sources, selective presentation of facts without context, false cause-and-effect relationships, and the use of anecdotal evidence to undermine scientific data.

More sophisticated methods include deepfakes—AI-generated audio or video materials—and cheapfakes, which use simple, widely available tools to manipulate audiovisual content.

Experts emphasize that disinformation is deliberately spread to cause public harm or generate profit for its creators. The broader aims include fostering fear, undermining institutional trust, and amplifying social divisions. Over time, these campaigns can significantly weaken confidence in public institutions, scientific research, and mainstream media, contributing to broader social polarization and potential state instability.

As the Middle East conflict continues, Polish authorities and cybersecurity experts are urging citizens to verify information sources and exercise critical thinking when consuming and sharing content online.