Claim: According to news reports, there will be a second hike of between PKR 25-40 in petrol prices, just days after the government increased prices by PKR 30 per litre. Fact: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail denied reports that a second price hike will take place on June 7, saying, “There will be no increase in […]
Claim: A news clipping written in Urdu states that a man who was trapped in a desert in Saudi Arabia ate two of his wives. Fact: There is no truth to the report. It appears to be based on an English-language article published by a Canadian satirical outlet in 2019. The pictures included in that […]
Claim: A viral photograph shows two PTI supporters kissing. Fact: The picture is, in fact, from the 2014 FIFA World Cup match between Iran and Nigeria, which took place on 17 June 2014. It shows two fans kissing before the match started. The doctored image indicates that the Emblem of Iran has been removed from […]
Claim: Viral screenshot claims that a Polish artist made a digital cartoonised version of Osama bin Laden. Fact: The artist, in fact, created artwork of a character called Alex Willow, not Osama bin Laden. Her art was doctored to include bin Laden’s name and went viral. On 20 May 2022, Twitter user @ratbastard400 shared digital […]
Claim: A WhatsApp forward chain message claims that international fast food chain KFC was found guilty of concealing the fact that its burgers are not 100% chicken in a recent court case. The message — which was accompanied by a link to a report on the Courthouse News Service website — further claims that KFC […]
Claim: A bus carrying students from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) fell off a cliff near Skardu. Fact: The bus, in fact, collided with a van head-on and then slipped downwards into a ditch less than 30 feet deep. In addition, the incident did not take place near Skardu but near Mansehra in […]
Claim: Over 200,000 people attended a protest held in Karachi on 11 April 2022, following former prime minister Imran Khan’s removal from office. Fact: In addition to sourcing comments from on-the-ground witnesses, Soch Fact Check used tools such as Map Checking to investigate the claim. Our most liberal estimate suggests that just over 100,000 people […]
Claim: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send images of naked humans to space to elicit a response from aliens. Fact: NASA is not working on a broadcast to launch images of naked humans into space. The misleading reports appear to have stemmed from a research study recently published in arXiv — an […]
Claim: A video shows Captain Bilal Zafar Abbasi hugging his son before leaving to fight in a battle during which he was killed in 2009. Fact: The clip does not show Captain Bilal Zafar Abbasi or, for that matter, Captain Dr Bilal Khali, both of whom were killed in battle. Voice of America journalist Benazir […]
Claim: A viral video shows Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other members of the government inside the Masjid Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia, with onlookers chanting the slogans, “Jiye Bhutto [Long live Bhutto]” and “Wazir-e-Azam Zindabad [Long live the prime minister].” Fact: Onlookers did not chant, ‘Jiye Bhutto’ during Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to Medina. The […]
Claim: Kristian Nairn, the actor who played Hodor in ‘Game of Thrones’, has transitioned to a woman, according to reporting by Spanish media outlets. Fact: Nairn has not transitioned. Spanish media outlets based their stories on a viral tweet by a trans woman who looked similar to the ‘Game of Thrones’ actor pre-transition. On 5 […]
Claim: An image of Rajput ruler Raja Puran Mal and Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir is being shared with the claim that the former defeated the latter “thrice in a row” and that the latter “was so afraid” of the former “that he never met him in the battlefield”. Fact: The claim is factually incorrect as […]