New Delhi, May 9 -- Following India's military strikes, members of the Pakistani government and its supporters launched what officials in Delhi described as a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at controlling the narrative and shifting focus from the operation's outcomes. The operation triggered an online propaganda response, with pro-Pakistan social media accounts and political figures circulating stories of military victories and retaliation that independent and government verification quickly debunked. "Pro-Pakistan social media handles and even influential political figures are deliberately spreading fake news, fabricating stories of miraculous military victories and heroic retaliation that simply do not exist," said an advisory released by PIB. Among the most prominent examples was Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif stating that Indian soldiers were captured during the strikes, a claim he later retracted, acknowledging that no Indian soldiers had been taken into custody. Another example was a viral image claiming that the Pakistan Army shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur. Independent fact-checkers determined the image actually showed a MiG-21 crash in Moga, Punjab, from 2021 - unrelated to current events. The Indian government's Press Information Bureau's (PIB) fact check unit (FCU) too issued a rebuttal. "The fact-check unit has seen a marked spike in queries since the early hours of May 7, shortly after India launched Operation Sindoor, with a significant uptick in requests for verification pouring in from 3am onwards," a PIB official said, requesting anonymity. Members of the FCU and PIB's social media cell haven't slept in 24 hours, this person added. "We are active. We are working 24 hours. We are trying to tackle each and every fake news coming our way," said this person. The PIB's advisory further said that the goal of Pak-affiliated accounts is "simple", which is to "flood the information space with falsehoods so quickly and overwhelmingly that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction." Such social media battle for narratives during an active conflict is now new. Similar tactics have been used over recent years in connection during the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The approach relies on recycling outdated images, repurposing old videos, and presenting claims that flood information channels rapidly, making it challenging for citizens to distinguish verified from unverified information. In one of the posts, footage was circulated purporting to show Pakistan Air Force targeting Srinagar airbase. Fact-checkers traced this video to sectarian clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, from early 2024 - with no connection to Kashmir or any recent military actions. The fact-checking was led by independent organisations and news services. In one such instance, a widely followed digital forensics specialist who goes by the X persona Evergreen Intel noted that images allegedly showing Pakistani strikes on Indian airbases on May 6 were videos from the video game Battlefield 3. Indian fact-checking platform Alt News reported instances of Pakistani journalists sharing images from unrelated past events and identified accounts impersonating Indian Army personnel sharing unverified information. At the time of reporting, the FCU had issued at least 21 clarifications on its social media platforms, addressing information related to both the recent operation and the April 22 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 people. The FCU has urged citizens to verify information before sharing and to consult official government sources during this sensitive period. "In today's world, no conflict remains confined to the battlefield. Every war is simultaneously fought in cyberspace. From Ukraine and Gaza to Iran, we've seen how digital platforms become arenas for such propaganda," said Sandeep K Shukla, a cyber security expert and professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. "Disinformation campaign is part of war strategy as well."...