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Fake News claims TTP stole PAF F-16 fighter jet
A fake news on the doctored post of a leading Pakistani news outlet falsely claimed that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stole a Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter jet.
Several Indian social media accounts shared a screenshot of an alleged news report from the English language news outlet Dawn.com that the banned TTP militant group had stolen a F-16 fighter jet.
The alleged screenshot along with the video of a plane being taxied was shared by an Indian account on X, claiming that the news outlet had reported the TTP had stolen a PAF F-16 fighter jet.
The post was an user with the handle @Patelizm was captioned, “Reports claim TTP has stolen a Pakistan Air Force fighter jet. If true, this marks a shocking breach in military security.” It further added, “Even fighter jets are not safe in Pakistan.”
The user did not share the link to the alleged news story or its text beyond the headline, “Fears Mount over F-16 Security After Aircraft Theft Liked to TTP.” The post gained at least 271,000 views.
The same alleged screenshot and claim were circulated by several other India based accounts on X.
A user Pramod Kumar Singh with the handle @SindhPramod2784 shared the alleged screenshot and video with the caption, “TTP has stolen F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan Air Force? Are you kidding. See what Pakistan’s leading Dawn has to say.”
An analysis of the alleged screenshot revealed that image has digital manipulated. There are noticeable differences between the formatting on the actual news website. The text font and spacing between the headline and byline is larger than the website format.
In the alleged screenshot, each word in the headline is in uppercase unlike Dawn actual headline style, which only capitalizes selected words.
The news outlet has not published any report then the theft of a fighter jet nor has there been any report on any other leading mainstream media outlet.
It has been determined that the alleged screenshot about the TTP stealing a PAF F-16 fighter jet is fake and the news report of the incident is false.
