Pak-India conflict: social media gets flooded with lies!!!
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New Delhi: On Saturday, following US President Donald Trump's proclamation that India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Pakistan administration confirmed the same.
However, a war of lies is raging on social media. Fake news from both Pakistan and India is seen competing with unverified images and videos, claiming to be related to the conflict, flooding Facebook, X and WhatsApp. One of them is the fake news that Pakistan has attacked an Indian military base in Amritsar, Punjab. A video purporting to show the military base being burnt in the attack is also being circulated on X.
The video, along with the mentioned claim, was first shared by a user named Hanuman, posted on May 7. It claims that Pakistan has attacked an army base in Amritsar, injuring several people. A Pakistani user also shared the video with the same claim. The video was also shared by the X handle Voice of India, raising the same claim.
Meanwhile, several users in India, including BJP leader Shaurya Mishra and The Jaipur Dialogues, posted the video, claiming it to be footage of India's attack on Sialkot, Pakistan.
However, an investigation by fact-checking website Alt News found that both these claims were false. A reverse image search of a few frames from the viral video revealed that it was uploaded by a Chilean media outlet on February 4, 2024. The video is titled Fire in the Valparaiso region of Chile.
NEW Resident Video Of The Texas Fires Posted
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 1, 2024
Texas Resident Said “Evacuating terrible to see how the houses of neighbors and friends burn down more painful is to see the scorched animals running away. May god help us.”
American Is Crying While Filming This Texas Fire Footage pic.twitter.com/p9G2dT2PmM
However, the user named Wall Street Apps of X had posted the same video on March 1, 2024, under the title ‘Video of Texas fires’, the fact-checking effort found. In addition, Iran’s official news agency IRNA used the video on April 14, 2024, under the title of Iranian missiles striking the Negev sector in southern Israel. Although it has not been confirmed which of these is true, the clip, which is at least a year old, clearly has no connection to the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.
