The White House has sparked alarm after posting a series of cryptic videos amid the Iran war.
One of the clips was a shaky, four-second clip, filmed on a smartphone pointed at someone’s feet. A female voice is heard asking: ‘It’s launching soon, right?’
It was posted at 9.15pm on Wednesday but it was scrubbed from social media 90 minutes later.
A second short video was also posted that night, this time featuring a black, staticky screen accompanied by the distinctive ‘ping’ of a phone notification. An American flag flashed across the screen before the video ended.
The posts offered zero context, sparking rampant speculation online and also criticism given that the Trump administration is currently engaged in a high-stakes Middle East war.
Conservative media personality Jack Posobiec writing ‘Activation signal received’ under the video.
Other users tried to decode the ‘message’ the White House was sending. Another garbled video was successfully decoded by online sleuths, with the audio stating: ‘Exciting announcement tomorrow.’
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these videos.
President Trump with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth responding to a question on Iran from the news media during a cabinet meeting in the White House Thursday
These low-resolution images, which appear to depict the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State, were posted without a single word of explanation or caption. This one appears to be of Secretary Rubio
It still remains unclear if the posts were a coordinated teaser or a series of high-profile blunders, but the ‘meme-style’ nature of the content is not entirely unprecedented for the current administration’s social media team, which has previously leaned into unconventional online trends.
Beyond the mysterious videos, a series of eerie, pixelated photographs have recently surfaced on the administration’s official feeds. These low-resolution images, which appear to depict the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State, were posted without a single word of explanation
Over the past month, the White House has launched an aggressive social media blitz to sell the Iran war, splicing real missile strikes with video game footage in videos that have racked up billions of views.
With machismo narration from Pete Hegseth, Call of Duty scenes and dramatic backing music, the videos have horrified traditionalists who believe it is offensive to America’s troops.
But in the battle for eyeballs, the administration is unmoved.
‘Over a four-day period, the videos that we put out had over 3 billion impressions,’ a senior White House official told Politico, speaking anonymously about the administration’s communications strategy.
‘That blows away anything we’ve ever done in the second term,’ the official added.
White House communications staffers are encouraged to post content that is already popular within their own private group chats.
The videos are posted on the official White House accounts on TikTok, Instagram and X, using Grand Theft Auto clips, MLB home runs and real war footage spliced with films like Gladiator and Top Gun.
The White House has launched an aggressive social media blitz to sell the Iran war, splicing real missile strikes with video game footage and movie trailer formats in videos that have racked up billions of views
With machismo narration from Pete Hegseth, Call of Duty scenes and dramatic backing music, the videos have horrified traditionalists who believe it looks ‘unserious’
Some veterans believe the videos undermine America’s credibility.
‘I don’t think the performance of our men and women in uniform requires embellishment from Hollywood or computer games,’ said Command chief. ‘They represent the American people quite well on their own.’
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said: ‘It just seems detached from reality. Our allies look at this and they wonder, what the hell is going on. It doesn’t look like we’re serious.’
The White House disagreed, pointing to the numbers.
‘Polls show that a lot of young people are actually somewhat supportive of this war and our goal is to deliver content to them,’ the White House official said.
‘What we’re doing doesn’t disrespect the American troops. To the contrary, we’re highlighting all the great work – the heroic work that they’ve been doing with these videos. We do it in a way that captivates an audience.’
A second senior White House official called it a ‘creative endeavor.’
‘We’re over here just grinding away on banger memes, dude… 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,’ the second official said.
Democratic digital strategist Lauren Kapp has a blunter name for the strategy: ‘rage bait.’
