Claim: A video shows Maryam Nawaz allegedly departing for Geneva from Lahore Airport with people chanting, “Maryam kay papa chor hain” [“Maryam’s father is a thief”]. Fact: The claim is false. The video shows Maryam Nawaz arriving in Lahore from London in September 2023, not departing for Geneva. The audio in the clip was doctored […]
Claim US President Joe Biden admitted to taking the Pakistan Army chief on board in a conspiracy to remove former Prime Minister Imran Khan from office in April 2022, according to an audio recording. Fact Soch Fact Check conducted rigorous deepfake tests and spoke with multiple experts in the relevant fields to ascertain that the […]
Claim: JUI-F’s member Maulana Asad Mehmood has been nominated for the post of Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and current Governor Faisal Kundi has been dismissed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Fact: The claim is false. Faisal Kundi is still the Governor of KP, and JUI-F’s media cell has also refuted the claim. On 21 October […]
Claim: A video shows a group of Pakistanis carrying Bangladeshi flags in favour of the 2024 student uprising that led to the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Fact: The video predates the 2024 student protests in Bangladesh and existed online as early as January 2022. On 21 August 2024, Dr Farhan K Virk […]
Claim: Video shows Hezbollah’s attack on a petrochemical plant in the south of Haifa, Israel. Fact: The claim is false as the video appeared in September 2024. It shows an Israeli airstrike in Yemen following the bombing of Lebanon. On 27 October 2024, an account on X (formerly Twitter) posted a video (archive) with the […]
Claim: A video shows evidence of attempts to sabotage a PTI rally as uniformed men fired at the tyres of buses to prevent participants from attending the event. Fact: The video is unrelated to the PTI rally in September 2024 and predates the event. It was originally posted on 28 July 2024 with the allegation […]
Claim: PTI leader Hammad Azhar said that the health of former Governor of Punjab, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema is declining and he is currently hospitalised in jail. Fact: The claim is false as Hammad Azhar did not make such a statement. He refuted the news on X. Moreover, PTI’s lawyer Advocate Salman Shahid also debunked the […]
Claim: An image shows several dead bodies of Afghan refugees in white shrouds who were killed by Iranian border forces on 15 October in Saravan, an area in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran. Fact: The claim is misleading as the image predates the incident on the Iran-Afghan border by a few days. Evidence suggests that […]
Claim: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees or UNRWA added a black ribbon on their social media banner images to mourn the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Fact: The UNRWA added the black ribbon before the death of Sinwar in memory of UNRWA members who have been killed in the […]
Claim: Angola has banned Islam considering it an attack on the country’s culture and has destroyed mosques in the country. Fact: The Angolan government denies banning Islam and only tore down mosques that they say were built without permission. On 25 October 2024, a user on X posted an image (archive) of a destroyed mosque. […]
Claim: Hamas bombed and sank the American naval ship the USS Liberty killing 34 American crew members and wounding 171. Fact: The USS Liberty was attacked in 1967 by Israel, 20 years prior to the founding of Hamas. On 22 October 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted (archive) about Hamas attacking the US […]
Claim: President Putin introduced a new BRICS currency to replace the US dollar in international trading. Fact: The currency note shown in the images in the claim was simply a mock-up presented to President Putin as a gift at the 16th BRICS Summit 2024. No such currency has been officially introduced. On 23 October 2024, […]
Claim: Image shows explosion resulting from Israel’s targeted airstrikes in Iran on 26 October. Fact: The image is old and shows a fire that broke out at an oil refinery in Tehran in June 2021. On 26 October, X user @RadarHits posted a picture (archive) apparently showing an explosion somewhere in Iran, after Israel’s targeted […]
Claim: Video shows Palestinian prisoners that are held captive by Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Fact: The video shows scenes from a rehabilitation centre in Peshawar. On 1 July 2024, X user @josevico4 posted a video on X (archive), showing frail, shirtless men, with a caption in Spanish. The user wrote [translated from […]
Claim: Two pictures show a plane landing in Beirut during an Israeli airstrike near the airport. Fact: These images are AI generated and, hence, fake. On 21 October 2024, X user @s_m_marandi posted images of planes apparently landing on a runway with an explosion in the background. According to the post, the picture showed Beirut […]
Disclaimer: While the fact that the Sindh Police manhandled women during the Sindh Rawadari March outside the Karachi Press Club on 13 October is not disputed, this fact-check focuses solely on analysing the viral image. Claim: An image shows demonstrator Romasa Jami manhandled by the police at the Sindh Rawadari March that was held in […]
Claim: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was admitted to a hospital after Iran’s 1 October attacks on Israel. Fact: There are no credible news reports to suggest that Netanyahu was recently hospitalised, especially following Iran’s attack on Israel in October. The claim circulating on social media is false. On 4 October, X user @IR_Urdu claimed […]
Claim: A video shows a minor accidentally shooting his father at a Pakistani wedding. Fact: The video is from 2008 when a minor accidentally shot his father at a wedding in Aleppo, Syria. On 21 October, X user @WarMonitorClips posted a video (archive) showing a toddler shooting his father during a wedding, and claimed: “Crazy […]
Claim: A video shows the rocket by SpaceX creating a hole in the ionosphere, proving the Quran right as a verse in the Quran says: “And we have made the sky a roof withheld still they turn away from its signs” (21:32) Fact: The video actually shows the second SpaceX test-flight of their two-stage rocket, […]
Claim: A Pakistani cleric went paragliding in Europe while singing the azaan with a woman who was not his mahram. Fact: The individual in question, cleric Abdul Wali Khan, went paragliding with a male instructor, not a woman. He later shared additional footage showing himself alongside the male instructor who facilitated his paragliding experience. On […]
Claim: A video shows kitchen staff mishandling a fire at Foods Inn, in Karachi resulting in a fire at the restaurant. Fact: The video initially surfaced on social media as early as 2020 and is unrelated to the recent incident at the restaurant in Karachi. A Facebook post (archive) shared CCTV footage claiming to show […]
Claim: Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz laid the foundation stone for Pakistan’s first government-run school catering to children with autism. Fact: This school catering to children with autism is the first one to be launched in Punjab, not Pakistan. Between 4 and 5 October 2024, a number of news sources including The Express Tribune, […]
Claim: Islamabad has been ranked the world’s “second most beautiful city”. Fact: There is no basis for the claim as no source, survey or data has been provided as justification. The claim appears to be based on a 2014 article on a now-defunct website and that, too, did not offer any statistics or survey results. […]
Claim: Yahya Sinwar’s wife was seen carrying a $32,000 Birkin bag while walking in a tunnel. Fact: Samr Mohammed Abu Zamer, wife of the late Yahya Sinwar, was not carrying a Birkin bag. Soch Fact Check’s analysis revealed that the bag in the image circulating on social media does not match the Hermès Birkin bag. […]
Claim: A video shows Palestinian women wearing a burqa, a loose-fitting garment covering the whole body, participating in a beauty pageant. Fact: The video is from Syria and it shows burqa-wearing women receiving awards for memorising the Quran. On 9 October, X user @realMaalouf posted a video (archive) that shows burqa-wearing women walking down the […]
Claim: A video shows the body of a boy who was killed by the police during the protests over an alleged rape incident at a Punjab Group of Colleges campus. Fact: The clip is authentic but unrelated to the protests. It shows a student who was shot dead in Alipur Chattha by a boy of […]
Claim: Video shows French President Emmanuel Macron criticising Israel regarding the on-going Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Fact: The video is AI-generated. On 9 October, X user @DrEliDavid posted a video (archive) apparently showing Emmanuel Macron criticising Israel. He wrote: “Congratulations to Macron for his new position as H×mas spokesperson.” In the footage, Macron is criticising […]
Claim: A video shows Israeli soldiers running away after Iran’s attack on Israel. Fact: The video actually shows Israeli soldiers running and screaming during a rocket attack launched by the Palestinian resistance from Gaza during the Seif al-Quds battle in May 2021. Following Iran’s attack on Israel, X account @RTarabic shared a video of Israeli […]
Claim: The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement is training Pashtun youth to fight security forces. Fact: Supporters and volunteers were warming up and performing exercises to prepare for crowd safety ahead of the Pashtun National Jirga. On 8 October, X user @Alikhanyzai shared a video, writing, “پی ٹی ایم پختون جوانوں کو باقاعدہ ٹرینگ دے رہے ہیں […]
Claim: Recent internet disruptions in Pakistan are not being caused by any kind of firewall installation or ‘web management system’ upgradation. And the UK and US also have a firewall similar to the one being installed in Pakistan right now. Fact: Several digital rights advocates, journalists and international organisations have reported internet disruptions in Pakistan […]