EXPOSED: Pakistan's misinformation blitz targeting India with fake videos, exaggerated claims

Amid escalating tension with India, Pakistan has launched an information war against India, besides firing hundreds of missiles at air bases, other military facilities and even civilian targets, including hospitals. Besides, it has unleashed a wave of misinformation directed against India and flooded the social media sites with unrelated videos purporting to be from the strikes. These videos have garnered millions of views. BBC Verify has debunked the fake videos that claim to show attacks on an Indian army base and an Indian fighter jet shot down in Pakistan.

BBC Verify debunks fake videos

One such video claims to show an explosion caused by a Pakistani response, and it has attracted 400,000 views. However, the BBC Verify has found that the video was actually from the 2020 Beirut Port explosion in Lebanon. Another video clip received more than three million views on the social media platform X. However, it was found that the footage actually was from the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip on October 13, 2023.

BBC Verify has also found that the main purpose of some of the videos was to portray the Pakistani response as being more severe than it was. One such video showed that the "Pakistani army blew up the Indian Brigade headquarters." The clip shows blasts in the darkness, but it was actually from an unrelated video circulating on YouTube as early as last month. This video got more than 600,000 views. 

'Pakistan targeting Indian air bases'

In yet another attempt at misinformation, a set of photos claims to show an operation carried out by the Pakistan Air Force targeting "Indian forward air bases in the early hours of 6 May 2025". However, BBC Verify found that the images were screengrabs taken from the video game Battlefield 3.

Claims of shooting down 5 Indian fighters debunked  

In another wave of misinformation, the Pakistan Air Force claims to have shot down five Indian jets. Following the announcement, some users shared unrelated video clips claiming to show the wreckage of Indian fighter jets. Some of these videos have garnered millions of views. However, it was found that these images were from two previous crashes of Indian Air Force jets, one from an incident in Rajasthan in 2024 and another in Punjab state in 2021. Both these crashes were widely reported.

Indian Army highlights Pak disinformation

Addressing a joint press conference by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence on Operation Sindoor, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh highlighted Pakistan's attempts to spread disinformation about damage caused to the S-400 system at Adhampur, airfields at Suratgarh and Sirsa, Brahmos space at Nagrota, and artillery-gun positions in Dehrangyari and Chandigarh, among other allegations. She emphasised that India unequivocally rejects these false narratives, which are part of a broader strategy to undermine India's military capabilities and instill fear among the public.