Haseem uz Zaman

Haseem is a senior digital verification journalist at Soch Fact Check and producer at Soch Videos. Previously associated with Geo News, they have extensive news-building and editorial experience and have led a breaking news department in the past. They divide their time between reading and photography and their areas of interest include gender, minority rights, intersectionality, and class and oppression, as well as protests and politics in South Asia.

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Claim: A holiday has been announced for 23 September 2025 and a notification issued in this regard, according to Pakistani media outlets. Fact: No holiday has been announced in Pakistan for 23 September 2025. The news reports by Pakistani media outlets are actually about the 95th Saudi National Day, but they carry misleading, clickbait headlines. […]

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Claim: A video shows a house collapsing due to landslides as torrential rain and floods hit northern Pakistan. Fact: The video is authentic but neither from Pakistan nor recent. It shows a house collapsing in Sarkaghat, a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in August 2023. On 20 August 2025, Instagram user @aters.mystic […]

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Claim: A video shows a sudden downpour as part of a cloudburst in Mingora, Swat. Fact: The viral video is, in fact, from 2020 and likely shows a wet microburst in Perth, Australia. On 16 and 17 August 2025, multiple social media users shared a video claiming that it showed a cloudburst in Mingora, Swat […]

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Claim: Dr Adeeb Rizvi has advised people against taking medication for blood pressure issues and undergoing medical procedures such as surgeries. Instead, he promoted a natural recipe of his own, while claiming the success and effectiveness of the said cure in an audio message. Fact: The audio is fake and wrongly attributed to Dr Rizvi. […]

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Claim: Pakistani journalist Ali Musa Raza died while reporting at the site of the recent Punjab floods. Fact: Raza confirmed to Soch Fact Check that he is alive and well. Additionally, he debunked the claims of his death in a follow-up video and clarified the same in a recent interview. Social media pages have been […]

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Claim: YouTube has announced that it will “pay only for real voices & original content” starting 15 July 2025, effectively demonetising channels that use artificial intelligence (AI). Fact: YouTube is not introducing any major changes to its YouTube Partner Program monetisation policy but strengthening it to better identify and flag unoriginal content. The update to […]

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Claim: A video shows Africa’s elected president, Ibrahim Traoré, chastising Pakistanis for not speaking up for Imran Khan — whom he praises as a leader “of the entire Muslim Ummah” — and vowing to raise his voice for the former premier at the United Nations. Two other clips show him glorifying the Pakistani leader and […]

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Claim: Viral videos show Pakistanis showing off a new PKR 1,000 banknote, as well as using it for purchases. Fact: The banknote in question is not official but a printed version of a design that was submitted to an art competition back in 2024. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has not released any new […]

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Claim: A video shows Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lambasting US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk for “ignoring” the Palestinian people and abusing the Kingdom’s investments for their “own personal gain”. Fact: The video is manipulated, likely using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. On 24 May 2025, Facebook user ‘Sain Baba’ […]

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Claim: MQM-L founder Altaf Hussain has passed away. Fact: Hussain was hospitalised over a “serious illness” in London in July 2025 but has since been recovering. On 16 July 2025, Soch Fact Check received a link to a YouTube video (archive) that claims Altaf Hussain has died. Hussain, the chief and founder of Muttahida Qaumi […]

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Claim: Multiple videos of Elon Musk show him talking about Pakistan and India days after the two countries engaged in a military conflict in May 2025. Fact: None of the videos are authentic as footage from Musk’s previous appearances has been superimposed with doctored audio to create a nationalistic narrative through deepfake content. The manipulation […]

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Claim: A video shows Netanyahu alleging that Iran “had the support of Pakistan and China” during the 12-day war with Israel. He warns that his country, along with India, would retaliate and claims that Israel would have obliterated Iran had Trump not announced a ceasefire. “We will not abandon Gaza, nor the Muslims of Gaza,” […]

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