Iranian propaganda, made with AI, gets past the German press and into Der Spiegel's Iran coverage
Ourtake
Image databases are only as trustworthy as their weakest uploader, and here the weakest uploader was a propaganda pipeline.
What happened
Der Spiegel removed several Iran-coverage images after forensic analysis found them likely AI-generated or AI-manipulated. The images came from agency SalamPix via Abaca Press into German image databases, and other German outlets were also affected. An Iranian photographer admitted feeding images from an IRGC-run platform into the agency system without labeling, and several German agencies blocked SalamPix.