Claim: A Facebook post allegedly written by Fatima Bhutto expresses support for Imran Khan, claiming that while the former prime minister may be a millionaire, he is not a traitor.
Fact: The Facebook post is fake. Bhutto tweeted that no such post has been written by her on Facebook or other social media platforms.
On 8 April 2022, ahead of the no-confidence vote against ex-PM Imran Khan, Soch Fact Check received a link to a Facebook post. The post was attributed to Fatima Bhutto, writer, and granddaughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The post also referred to the late Prime Minister and founder of the Pakistan People’s Party Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and claimed that ex-PM Khan also fell victim to a foreign conspiracy-like Bhutto. The post was shared with Fatima Bhutto’s picture.
Imran Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence motion held on 9 April 2022. Against the backdrop of this development, an abundance of misleading and false information has been circulating on social media.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the claim and found it to be false. Fatima Bhutto has been vocal about her dislike of Khan’s politics. For instance, Bhutto has previously labeled Khan an opportunist politician and a player in the circus. The post in question attributed to Bhutto claims that Khan has been targeted by a foreign conspiracy to oust him. However, in reality, Bhutto did not write such an article or Facebook post in support of Khan.
Fatima Bhutto took to Twitter on April 8, 2022 to confirm that she did not write a post in support of Khan. Bhutto further added, “Whoever keeps using my name to speak on this issue has an incredible amount of time on their hands and absolutely no idea what I think about the PM, his opponents, politics etc.”
Fatima Bhutto’s tweet regarding “fake article”
Bhutto has been vocal about her dislike for Imran Khan’s politics but she also tweeted that there is nothing to celebrate about “purana Pakistan” as well.
Virality
A CrowdTangle analysis of the key term “Imran Khan is a millionaire but not a traitor” showed that the post in question received 1,000 interactions across 42 public posts between 4 and 12 April 2022. It was shared here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
The false post was also shared in Urdu here, here, here, and here.
The post in question was first shared by the Facebook page Fatema Bhutto in Urdu on 28 March 2022. The page is impersonating Fatima Bhutto. The page is not verified on Facebook. Bhutto on 4 April 2022 also tweeted that she doesn’t use Facebook and does not share her thoughts on Facebook.
Bhutto’s tweet about fake Facebook accounts
The same post was later shared in English on 4 April 2022 by Voice of Punjab. This post garnered 6,000 likes, 2,000 comments, and 11,000 shares between 4 and 12 April 2022.
Conclusion: Fatima Bhutto did not write an article or Facebook post in support of Imran Khan during the events of the no-confidence motion that took place last week. The post being attributed to her is fake.
But I have shared Fateema Bhutto’s page post as it was without any change.
Being a fan of you and your family I started following your page and shared your different posts.
Ok