Why Are Pro-Iran Bots Pushing AI Fakes of Epstein and Trump When There’s Real Material?

Donald Trump was allegedly Jeffrey Epstein’s “best friend” for roughly 15 years, and the president’s name shows up countless times in the Epstein files. But the internet has been swamped with fake, AI-generated photos and videos of the two men together in recent months. And some of those fake images are being pushed by disinformation accounts aligned with Iran, according to a new report from the Washington Post.

The Post highlights two accounts on X, HDX News and GPX News, which racked up millions of views with fake Epstein videos. One of the videos included the caption: “This video is not fake. These pedophile perverts started a war so that this wouldn’t be talked about.”

Both accounts were suspended after the Post asked about the videos, but there are many bots that have reposted the videos, one of which you can see below. The video also includes an AI-generated Diddy, fake footage of Bill Gates, as well as Elon Musk interacting with distressed AI-generated girls.

This video is not fake.

These pedophile perverts started a war so that this wouldn’t be talked about. pic.twitter.com/bYLDn970Fq

— Hamaad حماد (@ashrafhamaad) March 3, 2026

It’s unclear whether the accounts pushing these fake videos are directly financed by the government of Iran, which is currently being bombed in an illegal war started by President Donald Trump. But it’s clear, given the other content being pushed by the accounts, that they’re directly aligned with Iran.

The perplexing thing about the videos is that they use AI to create images of Trump and Epstein together, but plenty of real photos, videos, and shocking documents exist. Fake images can cause people to doubt whether an underlying news story is true at all. And in the case of Trump, he most certainly was good friends with Epstein.

The Washington Post calls the idea that Trump has bombed Iran in order to distract from the Epstein files a “conspiracy theory.” And while that might technically be true, since it can’t be proven directly, the president has repeatedly tried to belittle anyone who asks about his relationship with the late sex offender.

Social media sites have seen a steep rise in fake war footage since Israel and the U.S. first started the war against Iran on Feb. 28. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was assassinated along with a host of other top leaders in the Iranian government. And almost immediately, social media platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok saw AI-generated videos purporting to show things like airstrikes against Tel Aviv that didn’t actually happen.

X pledged to crack down on AI fakes at the start of the war, but it sounds like none of the accounts identified by researchers for the Post story were removed until the newspaper contacted the company. Nine of the 15 accounts examined by the Post were “verified,” though X doesn’t actually verify accounts as the company did years ago when it was called Twitter. Anyone can buy verification and get a blue checkmark, something that Elon Musk started after he purchased the site in 2022.