#FactCheck - Viral Video Misrepresented as Reaction to Pakistan’s Defeat in T20 World Cup
Executive Summary
A video is being widely shared on social media with the claim that Baloch people celebrated by dancing after Pakistan’s crushing defeat to India in the T20 World Cup. However, research by the CyberPeace found the claim to be misleading. The video is actually from a Lohri celebration held on January 23 at Government College University in Lahore, and is unrelated to any cricket match. India defeated Pakistan by 61 runs in the T20 World Cup 2026 match held in Colombo last Sunday. India scored 175 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs, while Pakistan were bowled out for 114 runs in 18 overs.
Claim
The 30-second video was shared on X with the caption, “Baloch people celebrate India’s victory.” The footage shows a group of men dressed in traditional attire dancing around a fire, while a large crowd gathers around and applauds.
Fact Check
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, key frames from the video were extracted and subjected to reverse image search. The search led to an Instagram post uploaded on January 26, 2026, by an account associated with Government College University Lahore. The caption described the performance as a Balochistan cultural dance held at the university’s amphitheatre.
Further research also uncovered another video of the same event, recorded from a different angle and uploaded on January 24, 2026, on Instagram. The caption again confirmed that the event took place at Government College University Lahore.
Conclusion
The evidence confirms that the viral video does not show Baloch people celebrating Pakistan’s defeat in the T20 World Cup. Instead, it depicts a cultural dance performance during a Lohri celebration at Government College University Lahore, and has been shared with a misleading claim.
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Introduction
In the age of social media, the news can spread like wildfire. A recent viral claim contained that police have started a nationwide scheme of free travel service for women at night. It stated that any woman who is alone and cannot find a vehicle to go home between 10 PM and 06 AM can contact the provided numbers and request a free vehicle. The viral message further contained the request to share and forward this information to everyone to get the women to know about the free vehicle service offered by police at night. However, upon fact check the claim was found to be misleading.
Social Impact of Misleading Information
The fact that such misleading information gets viral at a fast speed is because of its ability to impact and influence people through emotional resonance. Especially during a time when women's safety is a topic discussed in media sensationalism due to recently highlighted rape or sexual violence incidents, such fake viral claims often spark widespread public concern, causing emotional resonance to people and they unknowingly share or forward such messages in the spike of emotional and sensational appeal contained in such messages. The emotional nature of these viral texts often overrides scepticism, leading to immediate sharing without verification.
Such nature of viral messages often tends to bring people to protest, raise awareness and create support networks, but in spite of emotional resonance people get targeted by misinformation and become the unintended superspreaders of fake news fueled by emotional and social media-driven reactions. Women’s safety in society is a sensitive topic and when people discover such viral claims to be misleading and fake, it often hurts the sentiments of society leading to significant social impacts, including distrust in social media, unnecessary panic and confusion.
CyberPeace Policy Vertical Advisory for Social Media Users
- Think before Sharing: All netizens must practice caution while sharing anything and double-check its authenticity before sharing/forwarding or reposting it on your social media stories.
- Don't be unintended superspreaders of Misinformation: Misinformation with emotional resonance and widespread sharing by netizens can lead to them becoming "superspreaders of misinformation" and making it viral quickly. Hence you must avoid such unintended consequences by following the best practices of being vigilant and informed by reliable sources.
- Exercise vigilance and scepticism: It is important that netizens exercise vigilance and they build cognitive abilities to recognise the red flags of misleading information. You can do so by following the official communication channels, looking for any discrepancy in the content of susceptible information and double-checking its authenticity before sharing it with anyone.
- Verify the information from official sources: Follow the official communication channels of concerned authorities for any kind of information, circulars, notifications etc. In case of finding any piece of information to be susceptible or misleading, intimate it to the relevant authority and the fact-checking organizations.
- Stay in touch with expert organizations: Cybersecurity experts and civil society organisations possess the unique blend of large-scale impact potential and technical expertise. Netizens can stay updated about recent developments in the tech-policy sphere and learn about internet best practices, and measures to counter misinformation through methods such as prebunking, debunking and more.
Connect with CyberPeace
As an expert organisation, we have the ability to educate and empower huge numbers, along with the skills and policy acumen needed to be able to not just make people aware of the problem but also teach them how to solve it for themselves. At CyberPeace we regularly produce fact-check reports, blogs & advisories, and insights on prebunking & debunking measures and capacity-building programs with the aim of empowering netizens at the heart of our initiatives. CyberPeace has established the largest network of CyberPeace Corps volunteers globally. These volunteers play a crucial role in assisting victims, raising awareness, and promoting proactive measures.
References:
Introduction:
Digital Forensics, as the term goes, “It is the process of collecting, preserving, identifying, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence in a way that the evidence is legally admitted.”
It is like a detective work in the digital realm, where investigators use various specific methods to find deleted files and to reveal destroyed messages.
The reason why Digital Forensics is an important field is because with the advancement of technology and the use of digital devices, the role of Digital Forensics in preserving the evidence and protecting our data from cybercrime is becoming more and more crucial.
Digital Forensics is used in various situations such as:
- Criminal Investigations: Digital Forensics enables investigators to trace back cyber threat actors and further identify victims of the crime to gather evidence needed to punish criminals.
- Legal issues: Digital Forensics might aid in legal matters involving intellectual property infringement and data breaches etc.
Types of Digital Data in Digital Forensics:
1.Persistent (Non-volatile) Data :-
- This type of Data Remains Intact When The Computer Is Turned Off.
- ex. Hard-disk, Flash-drives
2. Volatile Data :-
- These types of Data Would Be Lost When The Computer Is Turned Off.
- ex. Temp. Files, Unsaved OpenFiles, etc.
The Digital Forensics Process
The process is as follows
- Evidence Acquisition: This process involves making an exact copy (forensic image) of the storage devices such as hard drives, SSD or mobile devices. The goal is to preserve the original data without changing it.
- Data Recovery: After acquiring the forensic image, the analysts use tools to recover deleted, hidden or the encrypted data inside the device .
- Timeline Analysis: Analysts use timestamp information from files, and system logs to reconstruct the timeline of activities on a device. This helps in understanding how an incident spanned out and who was involved in it.
- Malware Analysis: In cases involving security breaches, analysts analyze malware samples to understand their behavior, impact, and origins. various reverse engineering techniques are used to analyze the malicious code.
Types of tools:
- Faraday Bags: Faraday bags are generally the first step in digital evidence capture. These bags are generally made of conductive materials, which are used to shield our electronic devices from external waves such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and mobile cellular signals, which in turn protects the digital evidence from external tampering.
- Data recovery : These types of software are generally used for the recovery of deleted files and their associated data. Ex. Magnet Forensics, Access data, X-Ways
- Disk imaging and analysis :These types of softwares are Generally used to replicate the data storage devices and then perform further analysis on it ex. FTKImager, Autopsy, and, Sleuth Kit
- File carving tools: They are generally used to extract information from the embedded files in the image made. Ex.Foremost, Binwalk, Scalpel
Some common tools:
- EnCase: It is a tool for acquiring, analyzing, and reporting digital evidence.
- Autopsy: It is an open-source platform generally used for analyzing hard drives and smartphones.
- Volatility: It is a framework used generally for memory forensics to analyze volatile memory dumps and extract info.
- Sleuth Kit: It is a package of CLI tools for investigating disk images and its associated file systems.
- Cellebrite UFED: It is a tool generally used for mobile forensics.
Challenges in the Field:
- Encryption: Encryption plays a major challenge as the encrypted data requires specialized techniques and tools for decryption.
- Anti-Forensic Techniques: Anti-Forensics techniques play a major challenge as the criminals often use anti-forensic methods to cover their tracks, making it challenging to get the digital evidence.
- Data Volume and Complexity: The large volume of digital data and the diversity of various devices create challenges in evidence collection and analysis.
The Future of Digital Forensics: A Perspective
With the growth of technology and the vast presence of digital data, the challenges and opportunities in Digital Forensics keep on updating themselves. Due to the onset of new technology and the ever growing necessity of cloud storage, mobile devices, and the IoT (Internet of Things), investigators will have to develop new strategies and should be ready to adapt and learn from the new shaping of the tech world.
Conclusion:
Digital Forensics is an essential field in the recent era for ensuring fairness in the digital era. By collecting, inspecting, and analyzing the digital data, the Digital Forensics investigators can arrive lawfully at the prosecution of criminals and the settlement of civil disputes. Nowadays with technology on one hand progressing continuously, the discipline of Digital Forensics will certainly become even more pivotal in the case of investigations in the years to come.
Introduction
As our reliance on digital communication technologies increases, so do the risks associated with the same. The propagation of false information is a significant concern. According to the World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Risk Report, India ranks the highest for misinformation and disinformation risk. Indian Vice President Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability in the digital information age, addressing Indian Information Service officer trainees at the Vice President's Enclave on 18th June 2024. He has highlighted the issue of widespread misinformation and the need to regulate it. He stated “Information is power, information is too dangerous a power, information is that power which has to be regulated’’.
VC calls for regulation of the Information Landscape
The Vice President of India, Shri Dhankhar, has called on young Indian Information Service officers to act swiftly to neutralize misinformation on social media. He emphasized the importance of protecting individuals and institutions from fake narratives set afloat on social media. The VP called for the officers to act as information warriors, protecting the privacy and reputation of affected individuals or institutions.
The VP also highlighted India's vibrant democracy and the need for trust in the government. He called for the neutralization of motivated narratives set by global media and stressed the importance of not allowing others to calibrate them. He also emphasized the need to promote India's development narrative globally, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and diversity. He has expressed the need to regulate information, saying “Unregulated information & fake news can create a disaster of un-imaginable proportion.”
MeitY Advisory dated 1st March 2024
As regards to the issue of misinformation, the recently-issued advisory by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), specifies that all users should be well informed about the consequences of dealing with unlawful information on online platforms, including disabling access, removing non-compliant information, suspension or termination of access or usage rights of the user to their user account and imposing punishment under applicable law. The advisory entails that users are clearly informed, through terms of services and user agreements, about the consequences of engaging with unlawful information on the platform. Measures to combat deepfakes or misinformation have also been discussed in the advisory. The advisory necessitates identifying synthetically-created content across various formats, and advising platforms to employ labels, unique identifiers, or metadata to ensure transparency. Furthermore, the advisory mandates the disclosure of software details and tracing the first originator of such synthetically created content.
Conclusion
The battle against the growing incidences of misinformation and disinformation will not be easily won: developing a robust regulatory framework to counter online misinformation is essential. Alongside the regulatory framework, the government should encourage digital literacy campaigns, promote prebunking and debunking strategies and collaborate with relevant organisations such as cybersecurity experts, fact-checking entities, researchers, and policy analysts to combat misinformation on the Internet. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's statement scores the need to regulate information to prevent the spread of fake news or misinformation.
References:
- https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2026304
- https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/03/04/meity_ai_advisory_1_march.pdf
