As global attention remains fixated on the military hardware wielded by India and Pakistan in their ongoing conflict, a different type of warfare has been waged in the two countries on the media front.
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Observers say the clash has been amplified by falsehoods from major news outlets and elsewhere from both sides, which threaten to “erode democratic norms and increase polarisation” across the subcontinent.
India’s strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir last week have unleashed a wave of misinformation online, with unrelated videos claiming to be from the attacks gaining millions of views.
The strikes were aimed at targeting what India calls terrorist camps in Pakistan, two weeks after a deadly attack on India-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blames Islamabad for the April 22 attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam, which caused 26 deaths. Islamabad has rejected its rival’s claim.
After the first round of Indian air strikes began, footage of a 2023 Israeli air strike in Gaza quickly appeared on television and social media, which was attributed to the Indian strikes.
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A video claiming to show an explosion caused by a Pakistani counter-attack was found to be from an explosion at the main port of the Lebanese capital of Beirut in 2020.