The Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Vikram Misri, briefing the media on Operation Sindoor at National Media Centre, in New Delhi on May 07, 2025. Image via Wikipedia by Press Information Bureau on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Public Domain.

Militants killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, heightening tension between India and Pakistan and bringing the two nations to the brink of war. India blamed Pakistan for the attack while Pakistan refuted the claims and demanded an impartial investigation of the incident, but that did not take place.

Hostilities increased between the two nuclear powers, devolving into a full-blown diplomatic crisis. This culminated in cross-border bombardment on both sides for four days, brought to an end with a ceasefire agreement on May 10.

Compared to the last two wars (1965 and 1971), this time the real battle took place in online spaces and electronic media with a barrage of disinformation and misinformation from both sides. It intensified the situation by spreading confusion through AI-generated videos and images, as well as derogatory and misogynistic memes, fuelling mistrust, fear, hatred, and anger among the public.

A tsunami of disinformation

Just after the Pahalgam incident, Indian media initiated a massive campaign against Pakistan and kept reiterating that India would take revenge. On April 30, news started circulating on social media that India had attacked Sialkot, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which was later debunked as a video from Gaza.

Amid the disinformation circulating at the time, on May 7, India attacked Pakistan-administered Kashmir with multiple missiles, killing at least 31 people, including a three-year-old child. Pakistan's military responded, and in the early hours of May 8, Information Minister Atta Tarrar announced that white flags (a symbol of truce) were raised from Indian check posts on the Line of Control (Loc). A video bearing a date stamp was released to support the claim, but Indian users on social media used pictures from another video, suggesting that Pakistan was spreading lies.

A wave of disinformation swept across Indian TV channels on May 8, accompanied by blaring sirens, shouting anchors, and the circulation of fake videos. News outlets ran a marathon of fabricated news claiming that Pakistan’s main port in Karachi had been destroyed, the capital city Islamabad had been captured, Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff Asim Munir might have been arrested, and that the banned separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) had taken control of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. None of this was true.

The Indian online news outlet Jaipur Dialogues, with 459.3k followers on X, directly laid out the nationalist agenda:

In information warfare, perception is the battlefield. If the news damages Pakistan — true or false — amplify it. Post it. Share it. Make it viral. Let panic spread across the border.

If the news harms India — even if true — bury it. Suppress it. Disarm it before it spreads.… pic.twitter.com/YMrpEFa0P1

— The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) May 8, 2025

A number of fake posts circulated online from Pakistani social media accounts, including claims of drone strikes on a military post in Jalandhar, the destruction of Indian military checkposts, and attacks on civilians at the Ambala Airbase in Haryana, India. All of these claims were later debunked.

Numerous AI-generated videos also surfaced. One such video falsely showed Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry admitting to losing two fighter jets. This claim was debunked by Boom, an Indian independent fact-checking platform.

Fasi Zaka, a media commentator and public policy professional from Pakistan, spoke with Global Voices via a messaging app about how disinformation has become the new norm:

Information warfare is now incredibly important as battles become more pitched, intense, and underwritten by technology that allows you to use very dangerous weapons from great distances. You are no longer actually close to the places you send your munitions to. In this kind of situation, weaponizing false information to fill the vacuum where accurate information is absent has become standard practice in the age of social media, where borders mean nothing to travelling bad information. Maliciously created synthetic information proves useful in demoralizing populations who are simply hoping to remain safe. Disinformation is also convenient because it is not subject to any rules of war, since it often comes without an identified sponsor. It is an insidious tool — but unfortunately, it's now an explicit part of the combat toolkit.

Since the Pahalgam attack, many experts have raised serious concerns about the conduct and professional standards of both Indian and Pakistani media. The incident also underscored how digital platforms have become new battlegrounds, where narratives are shaped and manipulated through images and short video clips.

Influencers and YouTubers have put residents of Srinagar and other areas at risk by questioning their loyalty to India. These videos, which have garnered millions of views, contribute to a dangerous and polarising narrative against the Kashmiri people.

Indian fact-checkers and civil society push back

While large sections of the Indian mainstream media amplified unverified narratives, several Indian civil society actors and independent journalists actively pushed back against the tide of misinformation. Platforms such as Alt News, BOOM Live, and The Wire fact-checked viral claims originating from both Indian and Pakistani sources, aiming to curb communal tensions. Journalist Mohammed Zubair, Co-founder of Alt News, for instance, debunked a widely circulated claim about the Indian army surrendering:

Old video from 2019. pic.twitter.com/2jxfY05t2T

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 7, 2025

He also challenged narratives that Karachi port had been claimed, which forced some mainstream media outlets to retract their claims and issue apologies to the public, admitting that the reports had not been verified:

False claims about ‘Karachi Port’ being destroyed continue to thrive on social media. A 2020 image of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah is now viral as the aftermath of an attack by INS Vikrant | @onkeyta_ https://t.co/aNQ89ZUeLX

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 10, 2025

International fact-checking organisations likewise monitored and analysed viral posts circulating online.

Journalists and digital rights activists were constantly asking people not to believe everything that was being put online or amplify it without verifying. Digital Rights Foundation from Pakistan created an in-depth guide to verify fake news amidst the tensions.

Abdul Latif Khan, a retired Group Captain from the Pakistan Air Force, told Global Voices:

Propaganda has always been a part of war, from 1965 to 1971, with state-controlled media in both countries pushing official narratives. Today both militaries have created media wings to spread their narratives.

Censorship amidst war

Under India’s Information Technology Act (ITA) of 2000, the Indian government requested platforms such as YouTube, Meta, and X to block over 8,000 accounts originating from Pakistan, accusing them of spreading propaganda. India had also requested YouTube to block several Bangladeshi news channels — Jamuna TV, Ekattor TV, BanglaVision, and Mohona TV — on the grounds that they threaten India's national security and public order.

Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) released a report on India’s Geoblocking and restrictions on YouTube channels of renowned journalists and influencers, news channels, and artists. In Pakistan, under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) of 2016, a senior official from the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) was arrested for making anti-army remarks in a WhatsApp group.