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: A group of Indian doctors have invented a piece of advanced equipment to remove coronary artery blockages called Megavac, a mechanical thrombectomy system which removes blockages, mitigating the need for open-heart surgery. Fact: Megavac was created by Dr Richard Fulton, who has also made the SonoGlo and the MammoMark. He clarified that he developed […]

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Claim:  Zartaj Gul tweeted a photo of Imran Khan sitting next to a woman with the caption, “he was a strange king; he used to seat the poor in the front at a gathering of kings.” Fact: The image was doctored to make it appear as if Khan  was sitting closer to the woman than […]

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Claim: A viral social media post claims that PTI leader Shaukat Tarin had been arrested by the FIA.  Fact: He has not been arrested, but he has been charged and may be taken into custody in the near future. In August 2022, two audio clips surfaced of a telephone conversation between PTI Senator Shaukat Tarin […]

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Claim: WHO guidelines on brain stroke claim 7 “biggest brain damaging habits” Fact: The claim is false, as the WHO had not declared such a list. On 29 January 2023 and again on 9 February 2023, Soch Fact Check received a viral image on WhatsApp which claimed the World Health Organization (WHO) identified seven habits […]

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Claim: Lahore has made it compulsory for all new buildings to include charging stations for electric vehicles.  Fact: Lahore has only made it compulsory for new commercial and industrial buildings to include charging stations for electric vehicles to attain an environmental NOC. On 29 December 2022, ProPakistani uploaded an image on Facebook claiming that authorities […]

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Claim: Aaj TV reported that Imran Khan gave a public statement commenting on the viral accusations alleging that 4 Pakistani actresses had extra-marital relationships with military officers. Fact: PTI Media spokesperson Azhar Mashwani and Dr Arsalan Khalid have both declared this statement fake, and confirmed that Imran Khan did not comment on the allegations. On […]

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Claim: Neo News reported that PMLN leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has quit the party. Fact: The claim is false. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi remains a senior leader within the PMLN and a close ally of Imran Khan. On 20 January 2023 several social media users took to Facebook and Twitter to announce that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi […]

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Claim: Shehbaz Sharif has issued Letters of Credit (LC) for importing 165 Mercedes cars amidst inflation and the national financial crisis.  Fact: The claim has been debunked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. On 9 January 2022, journalist Imran Riaz Khan tweeted an image of a breaking news headline, claiming Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif […]

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Claim: Shireen Mazari shared pictures of a UN meeting in Geneva with Pakistani officials, saying that the attendance was “pathetic”, with mostly Pakistani officials attending the meeting.  Fact: The pictures Shireen Mazari shared were misleading. UN web TV and official tweets from the UNDP Twitter account show a fuller meeting room and several members of […]

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Claim: Imran Khan has made a new “confession” claiming that he invested $3 million from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center (SKMT) funds into a private housing society project.  Fact: Imran Khan tweeted about the $3m investment back in April 2016.  On 22 January 2023, The News published an article by Sher Ali […]

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Claim: An image of Fawad Chaudhry’s wife, Hiba Chaudhry, was shared on Twitter with a caption that claims they have arrived at Zaman Park in Lahore for a protest after Fawad Chaudhry was arrested. Fact: The claim is false, as ARY News aired a full press conference of her wearing the same clothes that day […]

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Claim: Imran Ismail of PTI shared a tweet claiming that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has won the local body election in Karachi. Fact: PTI had not won the local body election in Karachi.  On 15 January 2023, former governor of Sindh and PTI politician Imran Ismail published a tweet claiming that PTI had won the election […]

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