Reuters publishes Indian Army’s fake footage from Syria as LoC crossfire; raises credibility questions

On Friday, four civilians and a Pakistan Army soldier were martyred due to Indian troops unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from across the Line of Control (LoC).

Every national and international media reported the story. Reuters, on its Twitter handle, posted a video showing the cross-border shelling between India and Pakistan. The video titled 'graphic content' was given to Reuters by the Indian Army, turned out to be an old video from Syria.

Later, Reuters issued a clarification and deleted the video. "VIDEO CORRECTION: At least 10 civilians and four security personnel were killed in cross-border shelling between India and Pakistan. We are deleting a previous version of the video that used an incorrect clip," the multinational media conglomerate tweeted.

Though Reuters has now deleted its tweet, it still raises the question of how a reputable media giant and a source of information for millions across the world posted a video by the Indian Army without fact-checking and knowing the strained relation between the two countries. Pakistan and India are bitter enemies for decades, with India often using propaganda against its neighbor.

Last year, 265 ‘fake’ news outlets were uncovered by 'EU DisinfoLab', revealing that these were managed by an Indian network to influence the European Union and the United Nations with content critical of Pakistan.

The Lab found that several websites copy-pasted content which mostly included articles and op-eds related to minorities in Pakistan and India-related matters from unusual press agencies.

Upon further investigation, the EU DisinfoLab discovered that EP Today is managed by Indian stakeholders, with ties to a large network of think tanks, NGOs, and companies from the Srivastava Group.