#FactCheck-Old Photo of Kareena Kapoor Khan Falsely Shared as Fresh Pregnancy Claim
Executive Summary
A photo of Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan is being widely shared on social media with the claim that she is pregnant again. In the viral image, Kareena appears with a visible baby bump, leading users to speculate about another pregnancy. However, research by the CyberPeace Research Wing found the claim to be misleading. The research revealed that the image is not recent and is actually from 2020, now being reshared with a false narrative.
Claim:
An Instagram user shared the viral image on April 18, 2026, and posted a caption jokingly suggesting that after Taimur and Jehangir, Kareena was expecting more children.
Fact Check:
To verify the claim, relevant keyword searches were conducted online, but no credible media report was found supporting the claim that Kareena Kapoor Khan is currently pregnant. A reverse search of the viral visual led to an older video uploaded on the YouTube channel Bol Bollywood on December 7, 2020, where the same image was used.
Further research also found a similar video report on the YouTube channel Bollywood Bluff, published on December 8, 2020, featuring the same visual and similar claims. These findings confirmed that the viral image is several years old and unrelated to any recent development.
Conclusion:
The claim that Kareena Kapoor Khan is pregnant again is misleading. The viral photo is not recent but an old image from 2020 that is being circulated with a false claim.
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Executive Summary:
A viral image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man; however, this claim is false. A thorough investigation by the Cyberpeace Research team found that the image has been digitally manipulated. The original photo, which was posted by Balmukund Acharya, a BJP MLA from Jaipur, on his official Facebook account in December 2023, he was posing with a Muslim man in his election office. The man wearing the Muslim skullcap is featured in several other photos on Acharya's Instagram account, where he expressed gratitude for the support from the Muslim community. Thus, the claimed image of a marriage between a Hindu Sadhvi and a Muslim man is digitally altered.
Claims:
An image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man.
Fact Check:
Upon receiving the posts, we reverse searched the image to find any credible sources. We found a photo posted by Balmukund Acharya Hathoj Dham on his facebook page on 6 December 2023.
This photo is digitally altered and posted on social media to mislead. We also found several different photos with the skullcap man where he was featured.
We also checked for any AI fabrication in the viral image. We checked using a detection tool named, “content@scale” AI Image detection. This tool found the image to be 95% AI Manipulated.
We also checked with another detection tool for further validation named, “isitai” image detection tool. It found the image to be 38.50% of AI content, which concludes to the fact that the image is manipulated and doesn’t support the claim made. Hence, the viral image is fake and misleading.
Conclusion:
The lack of credible source and the detection of AI manipulation in the image explains that the viral image claiming to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man is false. It has been digitally altered. The original image features BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya posing with a Muslim man, and there is no evidence of the claimed marriage.
- Claim: An image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man.
- Claimed on: X (Formerly known as Twitter)
- Fact Check: Fake & Misleading
Executive Summary
A video is being widely shared on social media showing soldiers carrying coffins with full military honours. Users are claiming that the footage shows the bodies of American soldiers who were killed in the war with Iran being brought back to the United States.
However, research by the CyberPeacefound the viral claim to be misleading. Our research revealed that the video has no connection to the recent Iran-Israel conflict. The footage actually dates back to December 2025, when an Islamic State gunman in Syria killed two US soldiers and a US civilian.
Following that incident, the bodies of the victims were transported with military honours, and the ceremony was recorded in the viral video. The clip is now being circulated online with a false claim.
Claim
On March 1, 2026, an Instagram user shared the viral video claiming that it shows the bodies of American soldiers returning to the US after being killed in the war against Iran. The caption of the post reads: “Bodies of American soldiers martyred against Iran are returning to the United States. War always brings destruction, which we are now witnessing.”
The link to the post and its archived version can be seen below.
Fact check
To verify the claim, we extracted key frames from the viral video and performed a reverse image search using Google Lens. During the search, we found the full version of the video in a report published by BBC on December 18, 2025. This confirms that the footage predates the current developments.
According to the BBC report, US President Donald Trump attended a dignified transfer ceremony for two members of the US National Guard and a US civilian who were killed in Syria. The somber ceremony took place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, United States. The US Central Command (Centcom) stated that the two soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush carried out by an Islamic State (IS) gunman in Syria. The US Army identified the two soldiers as Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar (25) of Des Moines and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard (29) of Marshalltown. A US civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, was also killed in the attack. Officials said that three other service members were injured during the attack, and the gunman was engaged and killed. Syria’s state media also reported that two Syrian security personnel were injured in the incident.
Further research led us to a report published on the News Nation YouTube channel on December 18, 2025, which also featured the same footage related to the incident.
Conclusion
Our research found that the viral video is not related to the recent Iran-Israel conflict. The footage dates back to December 2025, when two US soldiers and a US civilian were killed in an Islamic State attack in Syria. The video shows the dignified transfer of their remains and is now being shared on social media with a misleading claim.
Introduction
In today’s digital environment, national security challenges extend well beyond traditional military domains. One growing concern is the unauthorised extraction of information, which is increasingly being used through subtle and gradual methods rather than overt force. Recent advisories point to a rising pattern in which foreign organisations seek to recruit individuals to collect and handle sensitive material, often using financial cybercrime networks as part of their operational ecosystem. This trend has implications for journalists, defence personnel, researchers, students, and academics working in strategic, geopolitical, and security-related fields. The core risk lies in the fact that these activities can proceed quietly and without coercion, with participants sometimes unaware that their actions may contribute to intelligence gathering efforts.
Digital Platforms as Vectors for Targeted Recruitment
Professional networking and job portals have become central to modern career development. The same visibility that supports professional advancement is being misused by others. Foreign entities reportedly use these platforms to identify individuals with experience in journalism, defence services, strategic studies, cybersecurity, and international relations.
Early-career professionals and students from reputed Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are particularly vulnerable because they seek freelance work, research experience and international partnerships. Initial outreach is often framed as legitimate consultancy, research assistance, or content development work, which creates the impression of professional credibility through normal business operations.
Task-Based Information Extraction
The organisation assigns writing and research duties to new employees, which seem simple to perform. The topics of source-based articles and analytical pieces include the following two subjects about India.
- The first subject examines India's foreign relations with its strategic partnerships.
- The second subject investigates how armed forces operate through different military movements.
- The third subject focuses on defence procurement activities, which include weapon system development and modernisation projects.
- The fourth subject investigates military activities through joint training exercises and war simulation exercises.
The public possesses most of this knowledge, but its threat emerges from the process of collecting and interpreting data with contextual information. The collection of insights from various sources enables organisations to identify operational patterns, strategic priorities and capacity evaluations which go beyond particular data points.
The Financial Cybercrime Nexus
The financial system that pays contributors presents itself as a major problem for this activity. Payments are often routed through:
- Indian bank accounts, including student accounts
- Funds originating from cyber fraud or financial crimes
- Occasional overseas transfers structured to avoid scrutiny
The system establishes a direct connection between financial cybercrime activities and the theft of confidential information, which brings unintentional danger of legal issues and public image damage to those involved. The Indian legal system considers all connections to illegal financial activities as serious offenses even when the person involved did not intend to commit any crime.
Concealed Identities and Data Harvesting
The entities that conduct recruitment activities willfully hide their real identities. The organisation uses intermediaries for their operations, which they present as foreign consulting firms, think tanks and analytics companies. Contributors who have defence or security experience will face requests to provide their personal data, which includes their PAN and Aadhaar information.
The collection of such data raises significant concerns. The system creates permanent privacy hazards that permit unauthorised access to personal data and identity theft and coercive practices. The ultimate use of this information often remains opaque to the individuals providing it.
Why Incremental Leakage Matters
The threat operates silently because it lacks the visibility of major cyberattacks. The combined effect of all articles and research notes becomes dangerous because no single element can cause harm. Hostile organisations can use incremental information leakage to undermine national security because they can analyse their gathered data to create:
- maps of strategic capabilities,
- defence readiness evaluations,
- security and foreign policy narrative control.
The process of information sovereignty erosion occurs through the establishment of undefined boundaries between journalism and academic research, and consultancy and strategic analysis. The lack of clear boundaries between journalism and academic research, consultancy and strategic analysis makes it difficult to determine who is responsible for research outcomes.
The Role of Institutions and Individuals
The universities and media outlets, together with the professional organizations have essential functions in their quest to diminish environmental effects. The organisation should perform the following proactive steps:
- The organisation should organise training programs which will educate people about its services.
- The organisation should require researchers to conduct thorough investigations before they accept paid assignments for research work and writing tasks.
- The organisation should recommend that people do not share their identity documents except when their institution requires it for authentication purposes.
- The organisation should create specific methods to report any suspicious activities that people might encounter.
Students and professionals need to understand that their specialised knowledge and trustworthiness can be used against them. People must protect their digital identities through three actions, which include verifying their affiliations and assessing the complete effects of their daily activities.
Conclusion
Cyber enabled threats to national security increasingly operate in grey zones, which makes their legality, legitimacy, and true intent difficult to assess. The convergence of foreign recruitment efforts, financial cybercrime, and covert information gathering creates a persistent risk that is still not widely recognised or fully understood. The state does not bear exclusive responsibility for protecting sensitive information. National resilience in an interconnected knowledge economy requires organisations to develop three core capacities, which include institutional awareness and restraint and institutional vigilance. Cyber resilience depends on two essential factors, which include secure systems and informed citizens, because data continues to determine power relationships.
References
- https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2025.pdf
- https://www.cyber-espionage.ch/
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/18/mi5-issues-alert-to-mps-and-peers-over-chinese-espionage
- http://cybercrimejournal.com/menuscript/index.php/cybercrimejournal/article/download/263/92
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368461675_Cyber_Espionage_Consequences_as_a_Growing_Threat
