Claim: A “witch” was filmed hovering in Kidney Hill Park in Karachi, Pakistan and strange noises heard by park officials in the dead of night. The person who shot the video was down with a 104°F fever. Fact: The video clip is, in fact, the work of Zambian visual effects artist and filmmaker Joseph Njovu, […]
Claim: One of Karachi’s busiest thoroughfares, Shahrah-e-Faisal, will be closed to traffic from 1pm to 4am on Monday, 31 October 2022, for International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2022. Fact: Karachi Traffic Police Deputy Inspector General’s office confirmed to Soch Fact Check that Shahrah-e-Faisal will remain open today; the alert currently doing the rounds on […]
Claim: Maryam Nawaz played a video of Imran Khan making fun of her at her press conference, calling his insults “golden words”. Fact: The video was doctored. Imran Khan’s remarks were superimposed on top of a different video which Nawaz actually played at the press conference. On 28 October 2022, a digital content creator shared […]
Claim: Viral images and videos of a girl crying over a body in a coffin apparently show the daughter of journalist Arshad Sharif, who was recently killed in Kenya. Fact: The images and videos show Senator Usman Kakar’s daughter grieving her father who was murdered in 2019. On 23 October 2022, Pakistani journalist and news […]
Claim: A Twitter account claims to be a journalist from Nairobi, Kenya. The account posted consistent updates about Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder in Kenya. Pakistani social media users have been sharing the tweets as real news. Fact: The Twitter account is fake. The user has changed their Twitter username and handle multiple times. The […]
Claim: Awami National Party’s (ANP) leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said it’s impossible to defeat Imran Khan and has graciously accepted his loss in the NA-31 Peshawar by-election. Fact: Bilour did not issue any such statement. In fact, he refused to accept the by-election result and accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of “massive rigging”. Fact or […]
Claim: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has removed Rule 13-1 from The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, allowing “gender change” for transgender folks. Fact: Section 13 of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, pertains to transgender folks’ right to assembly and has nothing to do with a gender change. […]
Claim: A message that appears to be a NADRA alert claims that the authority has announced a new set of policies to streamline the process of obtaining an ID card. It lists down seven points detailing said policies. Fact: The message is not an official NADRA alert. However, some of the seven points are true. […]
Claim: Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto gives a fierce and hostile rebuttal to the United States, telling Joe Biden to keep shut in response to him calling Pakistan one of the most dangerous nations in the world for owning nuclear weapons without any cohesion. Fact: When asked about Joe Biden’s remarks during a press conference; Bilawal […]
Claim: Opposing party politicians claimed that the University of Sargodha refused to invite Imran Khan for a political address. While other posts claimed that he was invited by the university. Fact: The University of Sargodha administration never invited Imran Khan to deliver a speech, nor did they disinvite him. He was invited by the Punjab […]
Claim: Shehbaz Sharif endorsed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) long march. Fact: A video clip from Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement of the Mehngai Mukao March from March 2022 was shared out of context to imply that he has endorsed PTI’s long march. On 28 October 2022, a content creator shared a video on Facebook claiming to show prime […]
Claim: Imran Khan called for an emergency press conference at 3pm a day before the long march was supposed to begin, at Shahrah e Quaid e Azam, Lahore. Fact: Imran Khan never called for an emergency press conference, and the long march began as scheduled. On 27 October 2022, several social media posts on Facebook […]