Following India’s precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, pro-Pakistan social media accounts unleashed a wave of misinformation and propaganda. These included fake news, doctored images, and recycled videos falsely claiming Indian losses or miraculous Pakistani victories. Fact-checking agencies and the Indian government’s PIB Fact Check unit worked around the clock to debunk these narratives, confirming that many viral posts were either outdated, unrelated, or completely fabricated.
Examples include:
Viral images claiming the downing of an Indian Rafale jet, which were actually from an unrelated MiG-21 crash in Punjab in 2021.
Videos supposedly showing Pakistani strikes on Indian targets, later traced to old footage from unrelated events or even video games.
False claims of Indian soldiers being captured, which were publicly retracted by Pakistani officials after being debunked.
The Indian government has urged citizens to rely only on official sources, warning that such digital misinformation is a deliberate strategy to distort reality and manipulate public perception during conflict.
Taking the digital battle further, the Indian government issued a formal advisory mandating all OTT platforms and streaming services to immediately remove Pakistani-origin content. This includes web series, dramas, music, podcasts, and any digital material produced in Pakistan. The directive, issued under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, is aimed at protecting national security and public order in the wake of heightened cross-border tensions.
In retaliation, Pakistan’s authorities have blocked several Indian channels and websites, citing “anti-state propaganda” and misinformation related to the Indian strikes. This tit-for-tat digital blockade marks a formal intensification of the cultural and information war between the two countries.
