Berliner Boersenzeitung - No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war

EUR -
AED 4.313975
AFN 80.547545
ALL 97.434934
AMD 449.73046
ANG 2.102303
AOA 1077.171324
ARS 1492.791377
AUD 1.764031
AWG 2.116752
AZN 2.0016
BAM 1.955498
BBD 2.367734
BDT 143.357833
BGN 1.958424
BHD 0.442032
BIF 3495.35953
BMD 1.174668
BND 1.502568
BOB 8.102747
BRL 6.532923
BSD 1.172619
BTN 101.493307
BWP 15.744565
BYN 3.837607
BYR 23023.499991
BZD 2.355536
CAD 1.60865
CDF 3393.617337
CHF 0.933866
CLF 0.028651
CLP 1114.547663
CNY 8.403625
CNH 8.419418
COP 4775.561579
CRC 592.408399
CUC 1.174668
CUP 31.128712
CVE 110.247953
CZK 24.57048
DJF 208.817712
DKK 7.463496
DOP 71.148999
DZD 151.843521
EGP 57.684081
ERN 17.620026
ETB 163.190867
FJD 2.634488
FKP 0.874805
GBP 0.874465
GEL 3.18381
GGP 0.874805
GHS 12.254105
GIP 0.874805
GMD 84.57654
GNF 10176.42647
GTQ 9.000608
GYD 245.342064
HKD 9.220266
HNL 30.706252
HRK 7.537617
HTG 153.886205
HUF 396.850416
IDR 19217.339549
ILS 3.93908
IMP 0.874805
INR 101.616219
IQD 1536.162471
IRR 49468.226083
ISK 142.276286
JEP 0.874805
JMD 187.051077
JOD 0.832886
JPY 173.446879
KES 151.506573
KGS 102.553011
KHR 4697.273684
KMF 491.603168
KPW 1057.221015
KRW 1624.959912
KWD 0.358662
KYD 0.977249
KZT 639.001194
LAK 25279.09122
LBP 105069.953557
LKR 353.815291
LRD 235.113646
LSL 20.812382
LTL 3.468491
LVL 0.710546
LYD 6.330021
MAD 10.545169
MDL 19.72395
MGA 5179.199166
MKD 61.550483
MMK 2465.733848
MNT 4216.363074
MOP 9.481134
MRU 46.800763
MUR 53.342135
MVR 18.094285
MWK 2033.385588
MXN 21.777064
MYR 4.958867
MZN 75.131746
NAD 20.812382
NGN 1799.510154
NIO 43.153327
NOK 11.93722
NPR 162.388891
NZD 1.948849
OMR 0.45153
PAB 1.172619
PEN 4.153358
PGK 4.860248
PHP 67.132737
PKR 332.301418
PLN 4.249143
PYG 8783.641829
QAR 4.274539
RON 5.067641
RSD 117.131888
RUB 93.245282
RWF 1695.037905
SAR 4.407892
SBD 9.732239
SCR 16.61843
SDG 705.392672
SEK 11.192362
SGD 1.503815
SHP 0.923105
SLE 26.959075
SLL 24632.212956
SOS 670.196371
SRD 43.067458
STD 24313.263549
STN 24.496212
SVC 10.260413
SYP 15272.941179
SZL 20.804783
THB 38.024448
TJS 11.198868
TMT 4.123086
TND 3.423471
TOP 2.751195
TRY 47.634334
TTD 7.973767
TWD 34.632517
TZS 3004.935362
UAH 49.031718
UGX 4204.349902
USD 1.174668
UYU 46.972737
UZS 14837.70572
VES 141.281363
VND 30711.704452
VUV 140.295141
WST 3.217414
XAF 655.855588
XAG 0.030755
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.1746
XCG 2.113373
XDR 0.815674
XOF 655.855588
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.036769
ZAR 20.86834
ZMK 10573.429114
ZMW 27.351771
ZWL 378.242735
  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • RBGPF

    -1.1200

    73.88

    -1.52%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    22.89

    +0.17%

  • SCS

    0.0700

    10.58

    +0.66%

  • GSK

    -0.2600

    37.97

    -0.68%

  • RIO

    -0.7300

    63.1

    -1.16%

  • NGG

    -0.0800

    72.15

    -0.11%

  • CMSC

    0.0550

    22.485

    +0.24%

  • BP

    0.0700

    32.2

    +0.22%

  • BTI

    -0.3700

    52.25

    -0.71%

  • AZN

    -1.0200

    72.66

    -1.4%

  • RELX

    -0.9800

    52.73

    -1.86%

  • BCE

    -0.2300

    24.2

    -0.95%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    13.2

    -0.3%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.09

    -0.46%

  • BCC

    1.7100

    88.14

    +1.94%

  • VOD

    -0.0900

    11.43

    -0.79%

No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war
No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war / Photo: Narinder NANU - AFP

No truce in India-Pakistan disinformation war

India and Pakistan have announced a ceasefire after coming close to all-out conflict, but on social media citizens on both sides are vying to control public perceptions by peddling disinformation.

Text size:

Platforms such as Facebook and X are still awash with misrepresented footage of the attacks that killed at least 60 people and sent thousands fleeing. AFP fact-checkers have debunked many of the clips, which actually show the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Ukraine.

Indian and Pakistani media outlets have also amplified misinformation, including false or unverifiable claims of military victories that experts say have exacerbated tensions and contributed to a flood of hate speech.

"It's complicated to establish the military facts because, in addition to the reality of strikes that are difficult to ascertain, there's a communication war going on," said General Dominique Trinquand, an international relations analyst and former head of the French military mission to the United Nations.

Disinformation peaked when India launched deadly air strikes on Wednesday targeting "terrorist camps" in Pakistan, two weeks after a deadly attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir.

New Delhi blames Islamabad for backing the April 22 attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam, which killed 26 people -- almost all of them Hindu men. Pakistan denies the claim.

After the first round of Indian air strikes, the Pakistani military shared footage that had previously circulated in reports about a 2023 Israeli air strike in Gaza. The clip quickly appeared on television and social media but was later retracted by numerous media outlets, including AFP.

AI-generated imagery has also muddied the waters, including a video that purportedly shows a Pakistan Army general saying the country lost two of its aircraft. AFP fact-checkers found the clip was altered from a 2024 press conference.

"We have seen a new wave of AI-based content in both video and still images due to increased access to deepfake tools," said Joyojeet Pal, an associate professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan.

- Cyber alert, social media crackdown -

Both India and Pakistan have taken advantage of the information vacuum to raise alarm bells and promote their own claims and counter-claims.

Pakistan appears to have lifted a more than one-year-old ban on X the same day of the Indian strikes, according to an AFP analysis of data from the nonprofit Open Observatory of Network Interference.

"In a time of crisis, the government needed its people's voice to be heard all around the world and not to be silenced anymore like it was before for domestic political purposes," said Usama Khilji, a digital rights expert and activist in Pakistan.

The country's National Cyber Emergency Response Team (NCERT) on May 8 issued an alert about "increased cyberattacks and misinformation via emails, social media, QR codes, and messaging apps".

Both Pakistan's Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Karachi Port Trust later said their X accounts had been hacked.

A post from the latter account said the port -- one of South Asia's busiest -- was attacked by the Indian military. The page was later restored and the port authority said no attack had taken place.

India, meanwhile, has executed a sweeping crackdown targeting the social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations.

The government ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts and banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading "provocative" content, including news outlets.

Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check, a government-run website, has also refuted more than 60 claims about the ongoing crisis, many having to do with supposed Pakistani military victories.

- 'Cyclical relationship' -

The avalanche of disinformation online has been accompanied by a spike in hate speech offline.

A report from the US-based India Hate Lab documented 64 in-person hate speech events between April 22 and May 2. Most were filmed and later shared on social media.

"There is a cyclical relationship between offline hate speech and the rise of harmful online content," said Raqib Hameed Naik, executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate.

He said the Pahalgam attack sparked in India a "significant surge in rallies where far-right leaders weaponised the tragedy to incite hate and violence against Muslim Indians and Kashmiris."

Several clips online show people dressed in Hindu garb calling for economic boycotts of minority Muslims. Rallies in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have seen similar incendiary speeches.

Now that a ceasefire has been declared, Naik warned that hate speech "will once again refocus on religious minorities."

"The war machine may have paused, but the hate machinery never stops. I worry it might return with a greater force."

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)