Claim: A video claims to show an eight-foot-long centipede. Fact: The video was generated using artificial intelligence. Its creator has confirmed that he made it using Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha tool. On 26 June 2024, BOL News posted (archive) a viral video on its Instagram account, @bolnetwork, comprising two different footages that allegedly depict a giant […]
Claim: An image shows Maryam Nawaz wearing a short pink dress, alongside two senior Punjab Police officers in bright pink clothes. Fact: The picture has been doctored, likely using the Generative Fill tool of Adobe Photoshop that uses artificial intelligence (AI). On 26 April 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user @MehreenAli99 posted (archive) a picture of […]
Claim: A foreigner and five Pakistanis were held hostage and robbed on their way to Taxila. Fact: A group of eight people, not six, were robbed on their way back from a hiking trail in Shah Allah Ditta; they were not en route to Taxila. On 8 April 2024, Dawn and Express Tribune published articles […]
Claim: An image shows a child in the Shimshal village of Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region posing with a snow leopard she raised from when it was a kitten. Fact: The image’s creator has said it was created using the generative artificial intelligence (AI) programme Midjourney. It has no basis in reality. On 3 April 2024, Soch […]
Claim: An artwork showing a Palestinian journalist nailed to a cross was created by Banksy. Fact: The visual was created by Hassan Ragab, an Egyptian artist who uses artificial intelligence in his artwork, to highlight the killing of close to 100 journalists in Gaza since 7 October. On 6 February 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user […]
Claim: WikiLeaks has released a documentary on PTI founder Imran Khan after he was sentenced to 10 years and 14 years in jail in two separate cases pertaining to leaking state secrets and corruption, respectively. Fact: The documentary has nothing to do with Khan’s sentencing. It was originally aired in 2012. On 1 February 2024, […]
Claim: A video shows that the chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt-Gen Herzl “Herzi” Halevi, was captured, detained, and subjected to violence repeatedly. Fact: The video neither shows the Israeli army chief Halevi, nor is it recent. It actually depicts a Ukrainian prisoner of war from February 2023. On 1 November 2023, Facebook […]
Claim: A picture shows Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver with Yasser Arafat. Fact: The picture does not show Silver. The image, taken by Anat Saragusti, is actually of Israeli journalist Sarit Yishai-Levi. On 14 November 2023, Dr Edy Cohen — who describes himself as a “researcher” and a “right-wing Likudnik Zionist” on X, formerly Twitter […]
Claim: A video shows the IDF executing a large number of Palestinian prisoners of war, who are thrown into a pre-dug pit before being shot to death. Fact: The clip does not show the IDF, but two Syrian military intelligence service officers killing civilians, in what later came to be known as the 2013 Tadamon […]
Claim: A video shows a cleric engaging in sexual activity with a boy in a mosque in Palestine. Fact: The video is from Pakistan. It surfaced in 2021 when a seminary student exposed the sexual abuse he was subjected to at the hands of his teacher and former JUI-F leader, Mufti Azizur Rehman. [Trigger warning: […]
Claim: The UN has sent “expired aid” to Gaza, Palestine. Fact: The expiry date on the food items, part of the WFP aid sent to Gaza is 22 November 2023, more than two weeks from the time of writing. On 4 November 2023, the Facebook page ‘Stand for palestine’ posted (archive) a picture of what […]
Claim: Model Bella Hadid has spoken in favour of Israel, apologising for her past remarks about the country. Fact: The clip was created by altering an old video, using deepfake technology. The original video is from 2016 when the model spoke about her challenges growing up with Lyme disease at the Global Lyme Alliance Gala […]