Anisa Shabir

Anisa Shabir is a fact-checker at Soch Fact Check. She was previously an investigative reporter at the Arizona State University’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. She has been 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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Claim: Footage aired during Adil Shahzeb’s show shows Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel. Fact: The footage used is not connected to Iran’s 13 April attacks on Israel. The video is from the Turkish-Syria war in Idlib in 2020 when the conflict reached its peak. On 15 April, Adil Shahzeb’s show aired misleading footage […]

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Claim: An image on X shows China’s recent military drills near Taiwan. Fact: The photograph is by Reuters’ photographer Carlos Garcia Rawlins, and it shows Taiwan’s navy conducting a drill as a display of power in January 2024. On 24 May 2024, X user @Osint613 posted (archived) posted, “…the drills with China surrounding Taiwan are […]

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Claim: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi arrives safely in Tabriz amid news that his helicopter has crashed, according to an Iranian news agency. Fact: On 20 May Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead hours after his helicopter crashed in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. On 19 May, Threads user @starterpakistan claimed (archived) that “Mehr News Agency […]

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Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin posted a video on X saying that countries would choose sides after World War III starts. Fact: The now-deleted X account was a Putin parody account. Further, the video with the post has been shared out of context. On 14 April, X user @Brics_Dolllar, a verified parody account of Putin […]

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Claim: Cosmic rays from outer space will enter Earth between 12:30 am and 3:30 am, around the time of the solar eclipse, and harm human bodies through digital devices. Fact: No scientific evidence exists that cosmic rays can pass through digital devices and harm human bodies. This false claim has circulated online time and again […]

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Claim: A video shows Palestinians celebrating Iran’s 13 April attack on Israel at the al-Aqsa mosque Fact: The video does not show Palestinians celebrating Iran’s retaliatory drone attack on Israel. In fact, the video is from a week before the attacks, the last Friday of Ramazan, a day that is observed throughout the Muslim world […]

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Claim: Footage shows Iran firing a salvo of Grad rockets at Israel. Fact: The video is a decade old, and possibly shows a scene from the eastern Ukraine conflict in 2014. It has nothing to do with the recent retaliatory attacks by Iran on Israel. On 15 April 2023, Threads user @nouman_mustafa7890 shared a video […]

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Claim: Photos of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei crying, show his reaction to receiving news of Israel’s recent attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria. Fact: The pictures are old and have been shared in a misleading context on X. They actually show Khamenei crying on two separate occasions in the past. On 2 April […]

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Claim: A photograph shows an explosion in Tehran allegedly by Israel after Iran began its retaliatory drone attacks on 14 April. Fact: The photograph is from 2021, and shows an explosion at an oil refinery in Tehran in June 2021. On 14 April, X (formerly Twitter) user @Huberton posted a photo incorrectly claiming that it […]

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Claim: A video shows Israel’s Iron Dome repelling rockets fired by Iran-backed Hezbollah. The video was posted on 14 April, soon after Iran began its retaliatory attack on Israel. Fact: The video is at least six months old and does not depict Israel intercepting the recent drone and missile attacks by Iran, in this case […]

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Claim: Thousands of Jews gathered in New York City to protest IDF’s ongoing operations in Gaza in March 2024. Fact: The post is misleading. The video is 10 years old and shows a protest in New York City, in June 2013, against a draft bill proposed at the time that would require the conscription of […]

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Claim: Thermal imagery shows a Pakistani military helicopter killing four Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) insurgents after they attacked the second largest airbase PNS Siddique in Turbat on 25 March 2024. Fact: The video is not recent. The imagery is at least 13 years old and does not show the military operation that killed five insurgents. […]

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