When a deadly explosion rocked Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, 2025, killing 26 people, the world braced for yet another escalation between two nuclear-armed rivals. What was unforeseen, however, was that India’s mainstream media became a parallel battleground, deploying an orchestrated campaign of disinformation through its leading TV channels and newspapers.
Leading outlets such as Zee News, Aaj Tak, and India Today broadcast fabricated stories claiming that India had taken control of Islamabad, that Pakistan had surrendered, and that Karachi’s port had been destroyed. These falsehoods were amplified online through the hashtag #PakistanSurrenders, which trended widely across Indian social media, driven by coordinated digital networks. At the same time, another hashtag, #BoycottTurkey, surged in response to Turkey’s alleged political and military support for Pakistan during the clashes. Both trends reflected and reinforced the media-driven nationalist narrative.
Although fact-checking platforms like Alt News and outlets such as Deutsche Welle and TRT Global debunked these claims, the impact on public perception had already taken hold.
This was not a series of journalistic errors. It was a systematic disinformation campaign with overt political objectives.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, Hindu nationalist rhetoric has dominated state discourse. The Pahalgam attack was used to frame India’s military action as a stand against “Pakistan-sponsored terrorism,” enabling the media to portray Modi’s leadership as decisive and strong, especially at a time of mounting economic and social challenges.
The campaign’s effectiveness was amplified by the state’s growing influence over media institutions. This control was exerted either directly or through allied business groups such as the Adani Group, which acquired previously independent channels like NDTV. Simultaneously, dissenting voices were silenced. More than 8,000 accounts were banned from platform X, including those of journalists and independent news organizations like Maktoob Media and Free Press Kashmir.
The term ‘Godi Media’, meaning “lapdog media,” is no longer just a sarcastic label. It now accurately describes a media environment that has become tightly aligned with state power.
The consequences were grave. Domestically, the disinformation campaign stirred anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmiri sentiment and created fear in border regions. Internationally, false reports about attacks on Pakistani nuclear facilities threatened to derail U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a ceasefire.
Perhaps the most damaging outcome was the erosion of public trust in Indian journalism. Pratik Sinha, founder of Alt News, described the situation as a “national disgrace” and warned that misinformation was now coming from sources that should have been defenders of truth.
While Pakistan also engaged in its own forms of propaganda, the Indian case stood out because of the central role played by mainstream media and official channels in spreading falsehoods while suppressing corrections.
What is the way forward?
India must remove political influence from the media, establish independent oversight mechanisms, and stop systematic censorship. It is essential to promote media literacy and fact-checking among citizens, especially during times of crisis. The government should also work with global platforms like X and YouTube to limit the spread of misinformation. Most importantly, the state must commit to transparency by providing timely and accurate information to prevent the vacuum that rumors tend to fill.
Ignoring these realities will cost India far more than points in opinion polls. It may threaten the democratic foundations this country has long prided itself on.
References
Foreign Policy. (2025). Why Disinformation Surged During the India-Pakistan Crisis.
The New York Times. (2025). How the Indian Media Amplified Falsehoods.
DW Fact Check. (2025). Fake News After India Strikes Pakistan.
TRT Global. (2025). India’s Media Wages Propaganda War.
Hindustan Times. (2025). India Fights Pakistan’s Disinformation.
Al Jazeera. (2025). Indian Media Fuels Panic.
South China Morning Post. (2025). Misinformation Warfare.
The Washington Post. (2025). Fog of War Thickens.
X (formerly Twitter) posts by @PinakiTweetsBD and @zoo_bear. (2025).
الجزيرة. (2025). “انقلاب عسكري وسقوط إسلام آباد”.. انتصارات زائفة في حرب باكستان والهند.
Prepared by Ahmed Hafız
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position or views of the Istanbul Peace Research Center (IPRC)