The Consequences of Social Media and Memes as a Theatre of War

War is often fought on numerous battlefronts with state of warfare constantly evolving. In the case of the US-Israel-Iran War, drone and economic warfare are primarily tools of battle between the warring sides with the possibility extension to the seas following President Donald Trump’s proclamation of a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Although the primary theater of war in this conflict has been the skies with an impending theater about to open in the seas of the Gulf, there is another more unconventional theater that has been operating since the beginning of the war, the theater of social media. Since the beginning of the war both the US and Iran have used memes and social media platforms such as X and Instagram as propaganda tools to attack each other’s credibility and shift the war narrative in their favor by engaging wider audiences.

The purpose of this analysis is to explore the idea behind how social media and memes opened a new theater of war between the US and Iran since the start of hostilities in February 2026 and its consequences. This exploration is based on the idea the use of social media and memes transforms the individual from a spectator to active participant in the conflict, while also normalizing violence through humor. Moreover, by transforming social media into a theater of war, the belligerents transform the concept of war into an aesthetic, especially through the US military and White House’s use of social media and memes.

One consequence of social media and memes becoming a theater in the US-Israel-Iran War is the conversion of casual observers of the war into active participants in the conflict. To understand this, it is important to know how this conversion takes shape. Over time, memes have evolved from being a humorous cultural phenomenon to a means of political communication and participation, especially during times of conflict. According to Michael Johann of the University of Augsburg, “Internet memes are political when they refer to societal interests or conflicts, political actors, representative acts, or political decisions”. An example of the politicization of memes and social media comes in the form of the far-right Romanian presidential candidate, George Simion, uses memes and social media posts as a political tool to gain the support and engagement of a wider and younger audience. By using social media and memes, one can shape the public perceptions of politics, and potentially war as well.

Naturally, this politicization of memes through conflict allows the individual to become more involved in war as the battlefront has now shifted from the frontlines to the online space, which allows individuals to get involved through the dissemination of memes and social media posts during war time. This is clear, as governments can use memes and viral social media posts to effectively recruit the public spectator into what can be described as a “…memetic war”. Memetic warfare can be used in both an offensive or defensive manner, governments in war use memes to incite anger and hatred of the opposing side, which in turn shapes the public perception of the conflict and results in the average individual becoming involved in memetic warfare through creating and sharing memes to back the war effort. However, the Russo-Ukraine War shows an example of defensive memetic warfare, as the North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO), use memes to counter pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation, while also boosting the morale of the Ukrainian people. Through memetic warfare, the average spectator evolves into an active participant in a conflict.

In terms of the U.S.-Israel-Iran War, individuals are actively participating in the social media battlefront, particularly pro-Iranian content creators and groups. The Iranian public’s participation in the war is exemplified through the publication of AI-generated videos and memes depicting U.S. and Israel as degenerate oppressors. The most prominent of these memes are the AI-generated Lego rap videos produced by Explosive Media calling out the U.S. leadership for lying to their people (while also attacking President Trump through his affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein) and portraying the Iranian regime as truth-seekers engaging in self-defense. According to the creator of these videos, an individual known as Mr. Explosive, “The overriding message of these videos is that Iran is resisting what it sees as an almighty global oppressor: the United States”.

https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/2042578004199567624

It should be known Mr. Explosive also admits the Iranian regime is a costumer of this content but maintains the outlet is independent. The use of this type of meme by Iranian groups and individuals is essential to understanding how social media has become a theater of war, as these individuals understand the importance memes and pop culture references to the American culture, which allows them to shape a negative perception of the US and Israel.

Beyond transforming the casual bystander into an active participant in war, one can argue that a consequence of social media and memes becoming a theater of war is the normalization of violence through humor. The concept of normalizing violence through humor is not new, as the US has a history of blurring the lines between entertainment and war. This is clear as the US government is heavily involved in the entertainment industry with a relationship stemming back to the 1940s and relies on filmmakers to “…shape Americans’ opinions about war by providing support for productions that help glorify or normalize the violence of combat”. Naturally, this relationship extends to the realm of memes and social media as US movies, TV series, as well as video games have been memeified as a means of using humor and entertainment to make a spectacle of war and normalize violence.

In terms of the war on Iran, the US government’s use of social media and memes normalizes violence through humor and entertainment, as the US uses pop culture references to sanitize its actions while also shaping the US perception of the war. This is clearly shown in US war propaganda videos shared by the White House social media accounts across platforms such as Instagram and X, where images and footage taken from on-screen entertainment such as Call of Duty, Iron Man, Top Gun, and even SpongeBob SquarePants, and spliced together with war-time footage. Another example of the White House social media accounts using humor to normalize violence is in another video where professional bowler Pete Weber scores a strike, and the bowling animation shows a group of armed bowling pins representing Iranian fighters getting destroyed. The use of such humor and nostalgic cultural references frames the war as morally right as well as familiar, which consequently normalizes the horrors of war, glorifies war, and desensitizes violence and loss of human life. Therefore, the argument can be made the US’ use of memes and nostalgic pop culture references as a promotion tactic for war frames the conflict as a humorous yet necessary venture, which in turn trivializes the severity of armed conflict.

STRIKE. 💥🦅 pic.twitter.com/XMzNNtlT63

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 12, 2026

Although the US uses meme culture and entertainment to trivialize the conflict, Iran is also no stranger to the use of humor to propagandize the war and reduce it to a battle of comedy. These acts of “meme warfare” are carried out by Iranian embassies in the form memes, sarcastic comments, and jokes directly targeting President Trump and the US leadership. These jokes and memes posted by multiple Iranian embassies worldwide normalize violence through humor, as they poke fun at attacks against the US military. One example is a picture of a completely broken Air Force plane with the caption reading “A minor damage”. Another meme posted by the Iranian Embassy in South Africa on Instagram shows coffins draped in the American flag passing through the Strait of Hormuz with the caption “The only American thing that can pass through the Strait of Hormuz…”. Through these memes, Iran normalizes violence through humor by depicting destruction and death of American military assets and personal as comedy, which further desensitizes the public’s perception of the horrors of armed conflict.

A minor damage😎 pic.twitter.com/rIcC5NHZHh

— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) March 30, 2026

To be tied into the concept of violence being normalized through humor and entertainment, a consequence of social media and memes becoming a battlefront in the war is the idea that conflict becomes aesthetic. The aesthetics of war differs from the normalization of violence through humor, as aesthetic warfare focuses more on selling the war as something cool and visually pleasing. This is clear as the White House focuses its media strategy on audience engagement, which is less focused on providing a rationale for the war and more focused on social media engagement as a selling point. The White House implements this strategy by delegating White House staffers to share pro-war posts on their social media accounts to engage wider audiences, without sensibility or professionalism. It is through this strategy the Trump administration attempts the sell the war as a trendy social media aesthetic as opposed to a coherent US foreign policy backed up by facts and intelligence.

Touchdown pic.twitter.com/aDNdqBdRzG

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2026

This strategy of selling the war as a trendy aesthetic venture as opposed to a violent conflict with grave consequences is implemented through audience engagement on numerous social media platforms, mainly through memes and short-form videos. Examples include “Here comes the Boom” edit of NFL defensive players tackling others on offense in brutal fashion (captioned “Touchdown”), or other TikTok-style clips with MLB home runs, Grand Theft Auto…”. These videos make the war aesthetic because they effectively “gamer-ize” the war, which has resulted so far in such videos garnering millions of views in a short period of time. This aesthetic messaging behind the war is explained by a White House official who claims, “We’re over here just grinding away on banger memes, dude…” and “There’s an entertainment factor to what we do. But ultimately, it boils down to the fact that no one has ever attempted to communicate with the American public this way before”. It is through this media strategy the way the public feel about war is changed, as the emotional element is overshadowed by the visual aesthetic, which diminishes the severity of war and its consequences. Therefore, it is through the US’ use of social media and memes as a media strategy to maximize audience engagement that war becomes aesthetic.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2031101265518702833

Overall, it is clear to see that social media and the use of memes have opened a battlefront in the US-Israel-Iran War. The US and Iran are using memes and social media posts to fight an information war aimed at delegitimizing each other’s successes, while shaping public perceptions of the conflict. However, this new theater of war produces damaging consequences relating to the way war is perceived. The use of memetic warfare effectively transforms the idle bystander into an active participant in the conflict, who use memes and social media in an offensive or defensive manner. Furthermore, the use of memes by the US and Iran effectively normalizes the violence of war through humor, which consequentially trivializes the horrors of war.

Moreover, the White House’s media strategy of posting memes and short-form videos depicting war as cool and trendy effectively makes war aesthetic, also resulting in the desensitization of the violent connotations conflict often carries. Conclusively, the US-Israel-Iran War has legitimized the concept of social media as a theater of war and memes as weapons of war, which will forever shape the way the governments and people perceive war and its consequences.

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