The ‘memeification’ of World War Three reveals a troubling truth about society
Everything is content — even the existential fear of World War Three.
As the Israel–Iran ceasefire shows signs of breaking, and famine looms in Gaza, where more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while queueing for food since May 26, people have been flooding social media with a new and troubling trend.
‘Pre-draft’ shopping hauls, hot takes on ‘Why I cannot be drafted into WW3’ and jokes about a ‘nuclear summer’ are just some of the videos circulating on TikTok, all styled for maximum engagement.
Talia Fawaz, an influencer who has more than 730,000 followers on the app, shared a video filmed in front of her wardrobe titled ‘WW3 outfit ideas’. She wrote: ‘This is my coping mechanism.’
Another creator, with more than 21,000 followers, posted a clip of herself eating caviar: ‘Enjoying my meal before we all start eating canned food,’ read the caption alongside the hashtag ‘WW3’.
Both have racked up hundreds of thousands of views, but not everyone is laughing.
One comment under Talia’s ‘WW3 outfit ideas’ video said: ‘I cannot believe we have come to a moment where people are dying and uncertainty is exploding and we come online to see other people making a joke of it.
‘It’s not a “coping mechanism” also, it is lack of empathy and common sense. Grow up.’
Another read: ‘Not a fun thing to joke about. At least talk about what is happening in Palestine and Iran.’
Behind what has been described as dark humour is a growing unease among those affected by the wars in the Middle East.
Gaza-born creator Salma Shawa, who is currently living in the US, is one of the familiar faces on TikTok who have criticised the parody trend.
She told Metro that this kind of content is typically produced by creators who are far removed from the reality of war.
‘It’s usually privileged people, who have time to think about silly jokes when on the ground in Gaza there are people who are getting killed in sniper fire while trying to access food,’ she said.
‘It’s insensitive, tone-deaf, disrespectful… It is excused as a way to cope. Coping from what?
Salma challenged creators to imagine what it is like to live under airstrikes.
She accused them of trying to go viral because the algorithm relies on people making content that is already trendy.
‘That’s what gets pushed out,’ she said.
Salma also noted that influencers who have made World War Three videos have mostly never spoken about politics online, instead sticking to fashion and beauty topics ‘to keep their brand deals’.
‘Excusing it as coping mechanism is disingenuous,’ she said.
‘The majority of these people are out of touch with what is happening, which is why they make a joke.
‘If they grew up [in a country that is in a conflict] or had family there, or went to protests and stayed active… they would not make them as they would be so attached to the cause.
‘This type of content distracts from the real suffering, and turns it into a meme and a joke.’
Like Salma, a London-based Iranian woman, who asked to not be named, said this content is ‘ignorant of the reality’.
She told Metro that only those who do not know what happened to the victims of World War Two can joke about another global conflict.
Today, there is a huge generational difference about how people get their news. Nine in 10 (88%) of 16-24-year-olds use online sources to find out what is happening in the world, according to an Ofcom report from 2024.
TikTok has been growing in popularity as a source, reaching 11% of UK adults, up from 1% in 2020.
British psychologist, Emma Kenny, said the cosplay content we are seeing on TikTok is Gen Z’s reaction to a looming catastrophe.
Explaining the human psychology behind the trend, she stressed that dark humour is ‘a feature, not a bug’.
‘Terror-Management Theory shows that when mortality is highlighted, people reach for buffers, humour, group belonging, a sense of control,’ she said.
‘In fact, a 2022 meme study found exactly those mechanisms in action during the pandemic. Jokes let people laugh themselves back into equilibrium.’
Viewed through a psychological lens, content like ‘get ready with me for WW3’ and outfit memes can be seen as play-acting about a disaster.
‘It’s like a safe rehearsal of chaos, that turns fear into cosplay,’ Emma noted.
Humour can be a great comfort in hat are truly terrifying times, but it comes with a risk.
‘The risk, of course, is moral numbness,’ said Emma.
‘Clinicians talk about empathy fatigue, repeated exposure to traumatic headlines can deaden emotional response, pushing audiences to disengage or mock what once shocked them.
‘Fashion-ising war may be a symptom of that drip-feed desensitisation.’
Young people will always reach for humour when the news cycle feels unmanageable. But when conflict drags on, we must remember what makes us human.
As Emma says, ‘irony becomes armour, and empathy risks running threadbare’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.