Areeba Fatima

Areeba Fatima is a fact-checker and investigative reporter. She has a BS in Anthropology from Lahore University of Management Sciences. She has 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 cybersecurity, financial crime, political corruption and technology.

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Claim: BISP accounts designated for receiving flood relief donations have been hacked. Fact: BISP officially clarified that none of their accounts were hacked. No reports claiming recipients have suffered such fraud have surfaced. On 19 September 2022, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly and member of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Qasim Khan Suri […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Claim: According to British journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer, extreme weather events are not increasing worldwide Fact: Extreme weather events are increasing across the globe, especially in North America, Europe and Asia, according to the Summary for Policymakers report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On 2 September 2022, Talk TV, a recently launched British […]

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Claim: Journalist Waqas Ahmed has started working at the International Human Rights Foundation (IHRF). Fact: Both Waqas Ahmed and the IHRF deny the claim. On 25 August 2022, a Twitter account called Standup Pakistan shared a tweet claiming that 29-year-old journalist Waqas Ahmed is the first Pakistani to work for the IHRF. This tweet gained […]

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Claim: A new iOS update automatically activated a  feature that shares users’ precise location on Instagram for all other users on the platform to see. Fact: The location setting is built into the device and cannot be automatically switched on through an iOS update. Instagram has officially denied this claim. On 26 August 2022, a […]

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Claim: PML-Q MNA Monis Elahi has joined Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Fact: Monis Elahi has officially rejected any claims regarding him joining PTI and he has also published a tweet rejecting the viral image of a notification claiming the same.  On 19 August 2022, several twitter users shared an image which claimed to be a […]

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Claim: Imran Khan was voted Best Prime Minister by 93% of Pakistanis in a survey conducted by Arab Magazine Fact: Arab Magazine did not conduct a survey where Imran Khan was polled Best Prime Minister by 93% of Pakistanis. On 15 August 2022, a Twitter user shared an image which claimed that 93% Pakistanis believe […]

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Claim: ARY News reported that businessman Sheikh Danish, the main accused in a recent case of kidnapping and torture in Faisalabad, has been released on bail. Fact: Danish has not been granted bail. He is presently in police custody under physical remand ordered by a judicial magistrate in Faisalabad. On 8 August 2022, an incident […]

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Claim: An image of a female dancer in front of a portrait of Quaid e Azam is from the official national day celebrations held at the Jinnah Convention Center, Islamabad Fact: The viral image is from 2018. At the official national celebration this year, the stage was different from the one shown in the photograph […]

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Claim: An image shows Amna Baig of the Islamabad police saluting Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Baig has also been nominated as the Head of the FIA team investigating the PTI foreign funding case. Fact: The image is from 2017 and shows SSP Arsala Saleem saluting Maryam Nawaz while she attended a JIT hearing at the National […]

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Claim: An image of PML-N head Nawaz Sharif watching something on his phone is being shared with captions that imply he was watching Imran Khan’s August 13 political rally. Fact: The politician was watching his daughter’s political rally from July; the image was posted to Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s Twitter last month.  On August 14 2022, […]

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