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Incident 1221: Alleged AI-Enabled PRISONBREAK Influence Operation on X Reportedly Synchronizes Deepfake of Evin Prison Strike with Ongoing Attacks in Tehran

Description: Researchers from Citizen Lab and Clemson documented "PRISONBREAK," a coordinated network of 50+ inauthentic X accounts running a purportedly AI-enabled influence operation. The network reportedly synchronized with the June 23 Evin Prison strikes, posting an AI-generated "attack" video during the events and urging Iranians to free inmates, alongside other synthetic media and media impersonations. They assess, with medium confidence, likely Israeli government or contractor involvement.
Editor Notes: Reconstructing the reported timeline of events: (1) 2023: >50 inauthentic X accounts created; mostly dormant. (2) January 2025: network becomes active; coordinated posting via X Web, synthetic media, and amplification tactics. (3) Jun 13, 2025: with hostilities beginning, network reportedly circulates unrest/panic content. (4) 06/23/2025, incident date: during the reportedly ongoing Evin Prison strikes (11:17–12:18 IRST), an account purportedly posts an AI-generated "strike" video (~12:05 IRST) and the network allegedly urges a prison break; we anchor the incident here as the earliest reported real-time use of AI-generated content intended to influence events. (5) After 06/24/2025: campaign continues (water/energy crisis posts; August AI deepfake song); researchers notify X (09/30/2025); report published (10/02/2025). See the full report at: https://citizenlab.ca/2025/10/ai-enabled-io-aimed-at-overthrowing-iranian-regime/.

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Alleged: Unknown generative AI developers and Unknown deepfake technology developers developed an AI system deployed by Unidentified Israeli government entity , Unidentified Israeli government contractor under close supervision and PRISONBREAK network operators, which harmed Journalism , Iranian diaspora , General public of Iran , Epistemic integrity and Civil society of Iran.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Unknown generative AI systems , Unknown deepfake technology and Social media

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1221
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2025-06-23
Editors
Daniel Atherton

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident OccurrenceWe Say You Want a Revolution: PRISONBREAK – An AI-Enabled Influence Operation Aimed at Overthrowing the Iranian Regime
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We Say You Want a Revolution: PRISONBREAK – An AI-Enabled Influence Operation Aimed at Overthrowing the Iranian Regime

We Say You Want a Revolution: PRISONBREAK – An AI-Enabled Influence Operation Aimed at Overthrowing the Iranian Regime

citizenlab.ca

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We Say You Want a Revolution: PRISONBREAK – An AI-Enabled Influence Operation Aimed at Overthrowing the Iranian Regime
citizenlab.ca · 2025

AIID editor's note: This report is significantly abridged. Please see the original source for the full findings.

Key Findings

  • A coordinated network of more than 50 inauthentic X profiles is conducting an AI-enabled influence operation. The…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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