Anisa Shabir

Anisa Shabir is a senior fact-checker and open-source reporter at Soch Media. She also volunteers as an open-source researcher with Bellingcat's Global Authentication Project and previously worked as an investigative reporter at the Arizona State University’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. She was recognized for best community service project/reporting in the 2023 EPPY Awards and won the A-Mark Prize for Reporting on Misinformation and Disinformation. Her work has been featured in the Associated Press, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (AZCIR), Cronkite News, and Dawn. She holds an MA in investigative journalism from Cronkite School on the Fulbright Scholarship Award.

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Misleading

Claim: A video shows Pakistan’s navy rescuing an Indian vessel in the Arabian Sea in May 2026. Fact: Pakistan’s navy did assist the MV Gautam on 5 May, but the clip is old, appearing online as early as February 2023. A Facebook user posted a reel linking it to a recent rescue operation by the […]

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Claim: A CCTV video shows the killing of Sheikh Mohammad Idrees, a religious cleric and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) member, on 5 May 2026. Fact: The video is old and appeared online as early as April 2025, and likely shows a shooting incident in Peshawar at the time. A Facebook user posted a video — CCTV […]

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Misleading

Claim: An image shows the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arriving in Islamabad in late April 2026. Fact: The image appeared online as early as November 2024, and hence it is unrelated to his recent visit. Soon after Araghchi landed in Pakistan on 24 April, several users posted an image apparently showing his arrival in […]

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Claim: A video shows a firing incident at the Saudi Royal Palace in Riyadh in March 2026. Fact: The video is not recent, and surfaced online in April 2018, with publications and social media posts linking it to an incident of firing near the royal palace in Riyadh. There are no credible reports that such […]

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Claim: Videos show Iranian and Pakistani female soldiers commenting on the Israel-US war with Iran. Fact: An analysis found that the clips were generated using Sora by OpenAI. A Facebook user posted videos purportedly showing Iranian and Pakistani female soldiers commenting on the Israel-US war with Iran. The first clip, from 31 March, supposedly shows […]

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Claim: A video shows Iranian boats preventing the US warships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz in April 2026. Fact: The video is not connected to recent events. It appeared online as early as 20 June 2022, and likely shows Iranian speedboats approaching US Navy vessels at the time. On 12 April, a Facebook […]

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Claim: A video shows Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reprimanding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a recent press conference. Fact: The video is from a press conference from 18 December 2013 and does not show the Chinese leader reprimanding Netanyahu. At the time, the Chinese leader spoke about pursuing friendly relations between the two […]

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Claim: A video shows a US pilot of a downed fighter aircraft being captured by Iran in early April 2026 amid the recent Israel-US war with Iran. Fact: The video predates the downing of the aircraft, with factcheckers and social media posts linking it to a military exercise in Libya in March 2026. Multiple users […]

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Claim: A video leaked by the Iran-linked Handala group, which hacked into FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email, shows him dancing to a Bollywood song. Fact: The video is unrelated to the FBI Director’s emails leaked by the Iran-linked group in March 2026; it appeared online as early as July 2020. On 30 March, a […]

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Claim: A video shows Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Haifa, Israel amid the ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran. Fact: The video predates the ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel; it likely shows an Israeli strike in Damascus, Syria from July 2025. On 28 February, a Facebook user posted a video apparently showing […]

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Claim: A video shows an attack by Iran on Israel’s nuclear power plant amid the current Iran war. Fact: The video is old and appeared online in March 2017, with online publications linking it to an explosion at an arms depot in Ukraine. On 3 March, a Facebook user posted a video apparently showing an […]

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Claim: A video shows people attacking the US embassy in Iraq after an Israeli airstrike killed Ali Larijani, a top Iranian national security official, during the Iran war. Fact: The video is not connected to the ongoing Iran war. It is from December 2019, when protesters in Iraq stormed the US embassy in Baghdad after […]

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