在Donald Trump宣布美国与以色列在周六清晨对伊朗发动“major combat operation”后的几分钟内，WIRED检视了X上数百则贴文，发现有关轰炸地点和攻击规模的信息被广泛误导。在抽样中，许多宣称的战斗影像被重复使用而脱离时间/地点脉络：有些片段为数月甚至数年前的旧片；有些被置于错误地理位置；有些被修改或AI生成；也有些其实是游戏画面却被当作真实冲突场景。WIRED曾向X提出评论请求但未获回复。平台既往表现显示这是即时新闻事件中的反复模式：在以色列—哈玛斯战争初期和洛杉矶移民执法抗议时，X同样被大量不准确内容淹没。
一个主要趋势是：最具传播性的错误贴文大多来自蓝勾号帐号，即那些付费开启X验证并可能按互动量获得收益的用户。虽然在不少贴文下新增了community note来更正，这些机制未能可靠移除贴文或在其高触达前阻止扩散。观看量分布明显失衡：一段宣称杜拜上空有伊朗弹道导弹的影片实为2024年10月对特拉维夫的画面，观看超过4.4百万；一段被广泛转发的“以色列战机被击落”影片达到3.5百万浏览，但尚无可信报导证明周六在伊朗上空击落以色列战机；一则声称6枚高超音速导弹击中印资助以色列Haifa港的贴文（实际为去年的大马士革画面）有64,000次浏览；一则将Ali Khamenei宫殿前后照对比的贴文吸引365,000次浏览；另一则亲伊朗帐号宣称看到特拉维夫命中、但来自拍摄杜拜画面的贴文在删除前已达200,000多次观看。
多个论述也将真实攻击与捏造后果混合在一起。部分内容用一张疑似AI图像宣称伊朗击毁卡达的美军雷达，但目前可确认的报导只提及针对巴林美军第5舰队总部的无人机与导弹攻击，未有卡达类似成功打击记录。另有帐号重复使用周六的素材，伪称以色列遭到其他成功打击；还有一则借由Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini作为“Ali Khamenei宫殿战前”画面前照而误导观众的贴文。整体上，这些资料显示复杂战事在短时间内被高流量、获得验证并且可获益的帐号推高为大规模错讯洪流，且纠偏措施未能在早期形成有效抑制。
Within minutes of Donald Trump announcing that the US and Israel had launched a “major combat operation” against Iran, WIRED reviewed hundreds of posts on X and found widespread misinformation about where the strikes occurred and how large the attack was. Across the sample, alleged combat footage was frequently reused out of context: some clips were months or even years old, some were located in the wrong places, some were modified or AI-generated, and some were actually game footage presented as live conflict scenes. WIRED requested comment from X but received no reply. The platform’s history suggests this was a recurring pattern during breaking-news moments: X had already been flooded with similarly inaccurate content during the opening phase of the Israel-Hamas war and during Los Angeles immigration-enforcement protests.
A major trend was that most highly viral false posts came from blue-check accounts—users paying for X verification and potentially eligible for engagement-linked monetization. Although community notes were added under many posts, they did not reliably remove the posts or prevent spread before high reach. View counts were heavily skewed: one clip claiming Iranian ballistic missiles over Dubai was actually footage of missiles over Tel Aviv in October 2024 and drew over 4.4 million views; a widely reposted “Israeli jet shot down” clip reached 3.5 million views despite no credible report that an Israeli aircraft was shot down over Iran on Saturday; a post claiming six hypersonic missiles hit the Indian-invested port in Haifa (but showing old Damascus footage) had 64,000 views; a post comparing before-and-after images of Ali Khamenei’s palace drew 365,000 views; and a pro-Iranian post asserting impact in Tel Aviv using an image from Dubai reached more than 200,000 views before deletion.
Several narratives also mixed real attacks with fabricated effects. Some posts used a likely AI-generated image to claim Iran destroyed a US radar in Qatar, while confirmed reporting referenced attacks linked to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and no confirmed similar successful strike in Qatar. Other accounts reused Saturday’s material to assert successful Israeli strikes elsewhere, and one post paired the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini as a “before” image for Ali Khamenei’s palace, further misleading readers. Overall, the reporting indicates that in a complex military event, high-velocity sharing by verified, monetizable accounts amplified disinformation at scale, and corrective measures failed to establish early containment.