Those Soldiers Flooding Your Feeds? They Might Not Be Real.

The American soldiers who appeared in a TikTok video last month are handsome, muscular and, inexplicably, shirtless.

“We’re moving out shortly,” one says, sitting inside what appears to be a troop transport aircraft. “It’s going to be a long one. If you can, just send a little love our way.”

The video is a concoction, generated by artificial intelligence with the goal of enticing viewers to click. It is one of thousands, according to researchers who track them, that have deluged social media with fake images made to look like American service members on duty — at a time when real soldiers have been serving in harm’s way largely out of public view.

The source and the intent are not always obvious, the researchers said. Some, though not all, have been part of foreign influence operations, according to researchers, including accounts that during the war with Iran have circulated propaganda purporting to show American soldiers crying or quaking with fear.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/business/soldiers-ai-disinformation.html