Claim: A picture of a woman and a minor boy is shared with a caption that implies they are affected by the recent devastating floods in Pakistan. Fact: The woman and child are Rohingya refugees, who were photographed by Mohammad Ponir Hossain on 1 October 2017. On 31 August 2022, a Twitter user posted an […]
Claim: A viral image appearing to be a news update claimed PTI leader Shahbaz Gill said, “I do not wish to maintain political ties with Imran Khan” Fact: Shahbaz Gill did not make such an announcement. He remains a senior PTI leader and close ally of Imran Khan. The image is doctored. On 17 September […]
Claim: A screenshot of Afghan cricket player Farid Malik apologising after for a recent on-field feud with Pakistan’s Asif Ali was widely shared on social media Fact: The Twitter account purportedly representing Farid Malik is fake, and neither player has issued an apology for the verbal spat, which turned violent. Pakistan’s cricket team faced off […]
Claim: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin refused to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2022. Fact: There is no truth to the claims as Vladimir Putin and Shehbaz Sharif met on the sidelines of the SCO Summit 2022 on 15 September 2022. Photos and videos from the two leaders’ […]
Claims: A viral social media post claims that a man killed and beheaded his daughter in Karachi. Fact: The incident took place in Meerut, India not Pakistan. Further, images of a man and a young girl being shared with the claim are unrelated to this case. On 26 August 2022, a Facebook post went viral […]
Claim: A photo apparently shows Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites visible in the sky from Pakistan. Fact: The image is, in fact, two years old and has no link to Pakistan. It was taken as a screenshot from a video posted by a Kosovo-based software developer. On 8 September 2022, Facebook user Umar Farooq posted in […]
Claim: A social media video shows Tarbela Dam reaching its total capacity and the dam’s spillways being opened to avoid any damage to the barrier in August 2022. Fact: The claim is misleading. The video is not from August 2022 but was reportedly shared in 2015 after an earthquake in October 2015 jolted Pakistan. On […]
Claim: A graph shared in a viral tweet shows the rate of inflation in Pakistan along with the level of media outcry about inflation under the PTI government vs the PDM government. It claims that the media disproportionately created an outcry about inflation under the PTI government, as compared to the growing inflation under PDM […]
Claim: A screenshot shows a tweet by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in which he says, “I am surprised that on the visit to Pakistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan wanted me to have a media talk of his choice. I saw there that the Pakistani authorities do not care about the people.” Fact: Antonio […]
Claim: A photo shows a man salvaging his belongings from his home flooded by rainwater during the 2022 floods in Pakistan. Fact: The image is actually from the 2011 floods in Sindh and shows a man retrieving his belongings from his flooded home in Karachi, Pakistan. Photographer Fareed Khan took the picture on 13 September […]
Claim: A video of a mob attacking and forcibly entering the house of a Hindu family is being shared on social media with captions that claim the incident took place in the Telangana region of India. Fact: The claim is misleading. The incident did not take place in India but in Hyderabad, Pakistan, where a […]
Claim: A video shows darkness suddenly engulfing a market in Dera Ismail Khan, making people run and drivers turn on their headlights. Fact: The video is, in fact, not from the summer 2022 monsoon season in Pakistan, nor is it from Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but Balochistan. It was originally uploaded online in March […]