Persistent tensions between Pakistan and India triggered digital chaos overnight, as Indian media crossed a perilous threshold, with even mainstream and hitherto-reliable outlets peddling unverified or even wholly fabricated claims of large-scale military strikes.
Primetime panels and headlines asserted that a Pakistani pilot was in Indian custody; Karachi was bombed; Islamabad lay in ruins; Lahore had suffered “crippling damage”; Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir was facing arrest. Just one glaring problem: none of it happened. Social media fanned the flames with misattributed or A.I.-generated videos, gleefully shared by Indian news anchors.
Amidst this jingoistic mania, life continued undisturbed across Pakistani cities. As the Indian narrative spread on social media, people from across Pakistan shared videos of them sipping tea in late-night cafés, going about their routines, or just plain mocking the fever-pitch coverage in India. As one widely shared X post from Lahore read: “Apparently we were bombed, but I just finished a kebab and chai at Liberty Market—do let me know when the war starts.”
This dissonance between India’s wartime fantasy and on-ground reality in Pakistan laid bare a disturbing media phenomenon. While the “fog of war” naturally clouds information in times of conflict, both state-aligned and ostensibly independent Indian media didn’t just stumble in the dark; they sprinted into a hall of mirrors, amplifying unverified state narratives with palpable bloodlust. The hyper-nationalistic fervor served less to inform and more to inflame.
Adding to the Orwellian nightmare, the Indian government blocked access to over 8,000 X accounts, including those of Pakistani and international media outlets, ensuring the Indian public remained enclosed within its own disinformation bubble. This aggressive information control surpassed censorship in an attempt to curate a parallel reality. In this echo chamber, “patriots” declared skepticism treason and journalistic integrity a threat.
The role of media to inform and serve as independent watchdog is never more vital than during moments of potential armed conflict. Responsible reporting requires treading a fine line between not compromising national security (such as by revealing troop movements), while still interrogating official narratives with rigor and skepticism.
Much of Indian media failed that test last night. It must now work to regain its footing, not just for the sake of truth, but to prevent fiction from becoming policy, and jingoism destiny.