Areeba Fatima

Areeba Fatima is a senior fact-checker and investigative reporter. She studied Anthropology at Lahore University of Management Sciences. She has also worked with Fact Focus on an Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) investigation, the Suisse Secrets. She loves working with large datasets to extract meaningful information. She is interested in internet governance, financial crime, political corruption and emerging technologies.

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Claim: The News, Geo News, Arab News Pakistan, Express Tribune, and other social media users claimed on 23 July 2023 that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) has agreed to appoint Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as the caretaker prime minister. Fact: The claim is false. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who are both […]

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Claim: A minor domestic worker who was allegedly tortured by a judge’s wife in Islamabad has died of her injuries. Fact: The girl is alive and recovering in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Lahore General Hospital, where she was shifted to on 26 July 2023 from Sargodha DHQ hospital. She also gave an interview […]

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Claim: Mari Matta Mandir in Soldier Bazaar was not demolished; instead, a woman’s private property adjacent to the temple was destroyed with her consent. Fact: The structure that was demolished was not the woman’s house but the main area of the temple that had been encroached over the past few years. The majority (280 sq […]

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Claim: Bottles of alcohol were discovered in TLP leader Saad Rizivi’s car. Fact: A fake 24 News bulletin falsely claimed that bottles of alcohol were discovered in Rizivi’s car. On 14 July 2023, screenshots of an apparent 24 News bulletin went viral online. According to the images, bottles of alcohol were found in Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s […]

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Claim: An image shows the Mohmand Dam, one of Imran Khan’s greatest achievements, now in its last stage of construction. Next year this Dam will produce 1700 megawatts of electricity. Fact: This is false; the image actually shows the Hoover Dam in the United States of America. On 13 June 2023, several Twitter users shared […]

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  Claim:  A video from ABP News shows terrifying visuals of torrential rainfall and extreme winds in Karachi ahead of cyclone Biparjoy. Fact: The video contains misleading and inaccurate visuals that do not reflect the actual weather conditions in Karachi before or during the cyclone. The video shows calm sea and winds, old footage of […]

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Claim: Imran Khan appeared older than usual in a recent video clip, most probably due to stress and anxiety. Fact: An AI generative filter was used on a recent video of Imran Khan to make him appear older than he is.  On 2 June 2023, several social media users uploaded a 9-second video clip of […]

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Claim: The Sharif family stole expensive cutlery from a Saudi hotel, says the hotel’s management. Fact: No such claim was made by the hotel management. The screenshots of 92 News and BBC News headlines claiming so are doctored.  On 27 April 2023, a Twitter user posted four photos of news headlines purportedly from 92 News […]

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Claim: A video shows Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan snubbing Awami National Party (ANP) leader Aimal Wali Khan by refusing to hug him during a political meeting. Fact: The video is cropped and taken out of context. Other videos from the same meeting show that the two leaders did embrace.  On 14 […]

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Claim: The Australian government has banned 50 military generals from Pakistan.  Fact: The Australian parliament has not decided to ban Pakistani military generals from entering the country.  On 5 June 2023, a Twitter user shared a video claiming that the Australian government has banned 50 military Generals from the Pakistan Army for being involved in […]

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Claim: An image of Nawaz Sharif and King Muhammed Bin Salman is from Sharif’s Ramzan visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fact: The image is from 2017, when Nawaz Sharif visited King Salman as the prime minister of Pakistan. On 21 April 2023, the Instagram account (@pakobserver) shared an image of King Salman of […]

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Claim: Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son claims that PTI’s MPA Mian Alamdar Qureshi has returned the party ticket and is now contesting for the same constituency (PP 273) from the platform of Pakistan People’s Party Fact: PTI’s PP 273 candidate was not Mian Alamdar Qureshi; it was Iqbal Patafi, who is still contesting for the same […]

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