The Fog of War: How Misinformation and Censorship Fueled the India-Pakistan Crisis

As India and Pakistan teetered on the brink of full-scale conflict in May 2025, a parallel battle raged in the information sphere. While missiles struck military installations, a torrent of disinformation from Indian media outlets and social media users - amplified by state-backed censorship - deepened public panic, eroded trust in institutions, and compromised the democratic right to accurate information. 

This crisis has exposed systemic vulnerabilities in India’s media ecosystem and raised alarming questions about the government’s willingness to weaponize information control during military confrontations.

Manufactured Realities: Mainstream Media’s Descent into Propaganda

Indian television networks and digital platforms abandoned journalistic ethics to orchestrate a coordinated campaign of nationalist propaganda during the conflict. Major outlets transformed their studios into virtual war rooms, broadcasting fabricated narratives that bore little resemblance to ground realities. 

Zee News falsely claimed India had “occupied Islamabad” and theatrically depicted the surrender of Pakistan’s military leadership through animated graphics. 

Aaj Tak aired simulated strikes on Karachi Port using studio-generated visuals passed off as live footage, while Times Now Bharat enlisted retired military officials to lend credibility to baseless claims about battlefield victories.

The propaganda reached surreal heights when ABP News reported the arrest of Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir - a complete fabrication - and 1st India News “appointed” a fictional successor, scripting an alternate reality for prime-time consumption. 

These deceptive practices were not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern documented by international observers. TRT Global’s analysis revealed that over 78% of conflict-related coverage on major Indian networks contained unverified or demonstrably false claims, often presented with dramatic visuals and nationalist rhetoric designed to inflame tensions.

The Anatomy of Disinformation

Three distinct strategies characterized India’s information warfare:

• Preemptive Fabrication: Channels like DNA and India Today broadcast claims of attacks on Pakistani cities before any military engagement occurred, conditioning audiences to view escalation as inevitable.

• Historical Revisionism: Networks recycled footage from previous conflicts and video game simulations, repackaging them as “exclusive” battlefield visuals. The Independent’s digital forensics team identified at least 37 instances where 2019 Balakot strike footage was reused with new timestamps.

• Moral Panic Engineering: Anchors Anjana Om Kashyap and Shweta Singh falsely reported suicide attacks in Pathankot and Rajouri, leveraging communal tensions to justify military action.

These tactics created an information environment where facts became collateral damage. As Access Now noted, “The line between news and nationalist fan fiction dissolved completely, leaving citizens without reliable sources to understand the life-threatening situation unfolding around them”.

Digital Battlefields: Social Media’s Amplification Crisis

Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram became vectors for misinformation, with pro-government accounts exploiting the crisis to push partisan agendas. Within 72 hours of the first strikes, over 12,000 viral posts spread debunked claims - from doctored images of “captured Pakistani soldiers” to fake advisories about chemical attacks. State-aligned influencers weaponized historical grievances, with #KashmirRevenge and #SindoorStrike trending alongside manipulated videos purporting to show Indian flags flying over Lahore.

The scale of manipulation revealed sophisticated coordination. Network analysis by EU DisinfoLab identified 1,238 accounts linked to previous influence operations - including the infamous “Indian Chronicles” campaign - reactivated to amplify war rhetoric. These accounts shared identical visual templates and hashtags within minutes of key events, suggesting centralized coordination rather than organic public sentiment.

The Government’s Censorship Onslaught

Rather than combat disinformation through transparency, Indian authorities intensified the crisis through draconian censorship. Executive orders issued on May 8, 2025, demanded X block 8,000 accounts - including journalists like Rana Ayyub and outlets like The Wire - under the guise of “national security”. YouTube received directives to remove 47 channels documenting civilian casualties, while Instagram suppressed content mentioning “Kashmir” or “ceasefire”.

This repression followed a familiar playbook. As Access Now documented, India accounted for 58% of global internet shutdowns between 2020-2024, weaponizing connectivity blackouts during crises. The recent blocks expanded this strategy into content removal, targeting:

• Fact-checking initiatives like Alt News
• International observers including Human Rights Watch
• Academic researchers analyzing conflict dynamics.

X’s Global Government Affairs team publicly challenged the orders, stating compliance would require “violating core principles of free expression”. The platform’s refusal to fully comply - a rare act of corporate resistance - highlighted the orders’ overreach but did little to restore access for most users.

Democratic Erosion in the Name of National Security

The government’s actions reveal a disturbing convergence of militarism and information control. By silencing critics under Section 69A of the IT Act, authorities elevated state narratives over verifiable truth. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s claim that “certain voices were complicating military operations” thinly veiled efforts to suppress documentation of civilian casualties and operational missteps.

This censorship had tangible consequences:

• Humanitarian Impacts: Blocked accounts included volunteer networks coordinating border-area evacuations.

• Diplomatic Costs: The EU Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur noted the blackouts “undermined India’s democratic credentials during sensitive negotiations”.

• Historical Revisionism: With independent journalists silenced, state media narratives about “precision strikes” and “zero civilian casualties” went unchallenged despite contrary evidence from NGOs.

Critically, the propaganda campaign boomeranged. Pakistan’s military capitalized on India’s credibility deficit, weaponizing screenshots of Zee News’ fake surrender claims in its own propaganda. The result was a race to the bottom where truth became the first casualty on both sides.

A Crisis of Epistemology

The 2025 India-Pakistan confrontation has exposed how modern conflicts are fought - and lost - in the information domain. India’s descent into state-sponsored disinformation and censorship represents more than temporary wartime excess; it reflects institutional decay in democratic safeguards. When media outlets abandon fact-checking for fan service, and governments silence dissent rather than address it, societies lose the capacity for rational decision-making - a dangerous proposition for nuclear-armed states.

As digital forensics researcher Pratik Sinha noted in a now-deleted post: “Wars end with ceasefires, but the lies live on in algorithms.” The real test for India’s democracy lies not in restoring border calm, but in confronting the systemic failures that turned its information ecosystem into a weapon of mass deception. Until then, the fog of war will continue to obscure more than just battlefields - it will cloud the very foundations of informed citizenship.