Post #1090572

2026-03-19 11:51 UTC

My comment for WSJ. Trolling is now a standard tool of statecraft. Lego, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto or Nintendo work well as propaganda because they are universally recognised cultural cues with preloaded emotional associations. They are also perfect for fast-paced communication styles. Expect this new approach to diplomacy, signaling, international relations, and information operations to be used more frequently. https://www.wsj.com/world/lego-ai-propaganda-wars-iran-ab29cc6c

Replies (2)

@ciaranmak@mastodon.ie 2026-03-19 14:01

@LukaszOlejnik nothing is sacred 🫣

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@Ralph@hear-me.social 2026-03-19 14:21

@LukaszOlejnik #alttext WSJ How Lego Became a Go-To Meme of the Propaganda Wars. But Lego stands out for its massive footprint across the world, with revenues reaching $13 billion last year. If people didn't grow up playing with the bricks, which began production in their current form in the 1950s, there's a good chance their children did. And the cartoonish portrayal of combat using childlike blocky figures helps to sanitize gritty images of war, helping it to get past social media filters-and pushing it far beyond Iran's borders. "Lego works because it is a universally recognized cultural cue, and cultural cues carry preloaded emotional associations that may bypass critical processing," says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent technology consultant and a visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies, King's College London. "The familiar aesthetic lowers the audience's guard precisely when a political payload is delivered."

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