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.

True False

Claim: A video published by X user @frankjaan4555 shows a Pakistani family stealing bathroom accessories from a hotel in Malaysia. Fact: The claim is false. The video is four years old and shows an Indian family stealing from a hotel in Bali, Indonesia. It was widely reported by Indian media outlets and confirmed by the […]

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Claim: Chief of the extremist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, Masood Azhar, was kiIIed in a bomb expIosion by unknown men, on his way back from a mosque in Bahawalpur. Fact: Old images and videos from a 2021 car bomb blast in Quetta, a 2023 bomb blast in DI Khan and a road accident from 2019 were […]

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Claim: Cricket Victoria has contacted Babar Azam and offered him to play Sheffield Shield and Big Bash from Melbourne Renegades or Melbourne Stars. Fact: Cricket Victoria has not made any such offers. Their CEO Nick Cummins publicly denied the claim on his official X account.  On 10 January 2024, social media users on X and […]

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Claim: A Pakistani man was arrested by authorities on a flight to Australia for misbehaving with a flight attendant. Fact:  The man in the video is an Australian, not a Pakistani. The video was first published by 9 News Australia and has been widely reported by various Australian media outlets. On 2 January 2024, a […]

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Claim: Football player Christiano Ronaldo sold one of his gold boots for €1.5 million and donated all the money to children in Palestine. Fact: Christiano Ronaldo did not sell his golden boot to donate money to children in Palestine. In the first week of January 2024, social media users posted an image (archived) of the […]

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Claim: Director General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom has said that Disease X is a global problem and that we should be prepared for it. Fact: The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos discussed Disease X, a hypothetical outbreak. Disease X is not a specific disease but is the name given to a potential novel […]

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Claim: Senior politician and former National Assembly speaker Illahi Bukhsh Soomro passed away on 25 January 2024.   Fact: Soomro’s family members have confirmed to Soch Fact Check and multiple news organisations that he is alive.   On 25 January 2025 Business Recorder (later removed), Associated Press of Pakistan (later removed), Pakistan Today, The Frontier […]

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Claim: The Government of Punjab announced that all educational institutions will remain closed from 25 January to 28 January 2024.  Fact: Educational institutions are to remain open since no formal government notification was issued. On 24 January 2024, news started to spread that all educational institutions in Punjab have been recommended to close from 25 […]

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Claim: PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was hit by a shoe at a public rally as he began his campaign for the upcoming elections. Fact: The video is from March 2021, outside the National Assembly. There are no recent, credible news reports about Iqbal being attacked while campaigning. On 14 January 2024, vlogger Sabee Kazmi shared […]

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Claim: The President of Pakistan pardoned Imran Khan’s sentence. Fact:  The President of Pakistan has not pardoned Imran Khan’s sentence. An excerpt from Babar Awan’s press conference was shared on X with a false caption claiming that President Arif Alvi has pardoned Imran Khan’s sentence. On 22 January 2024, City42 and 24 News HD  shared […]

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Claim: Nawaz Sharif is the most popular leader in the country with a 60% approval rating, while Imran Khan is only at 53%, according to a recent survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan. Fact: According to the survey by Gallup Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif’s national positive approval rating has risen from 36% to 52% and Imran Khan’s […]

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Claim: Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is joining the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Fact: Contrary to the popular claim that he is joining the PPP, Ismail is actually taking a break from politics. On 11 January 2024, a video clip of Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, the Caretaker Prime Minister, Anwar ul Haq Kakar meeting […]

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