Amid Kashmir conflict, information warfare spiked
Across India and Pakistan, geoblocking and online abuse influenced how people perceived events as they unfolded.
Hey Checklisters,
In a time of widespread uncertainty around the globe, we’re digging into research from the recent upheaval in South Asia and keeping our eyes on digital fallout emerging from the Israeli and U.S. military strikes on Iran.
If you’re running late, here’s your TL;DR Checklist:
✅ Following deadly attacks in Kashmir, both India and Pakistan imposed restrictions on social media.
✅ Misinformation and gendered abuse ran rampant online as the conflict escalated.
✅ Iranians experienced a near-total internet blackout following Israel’s attack on nuclear targets.
Top Comment
When tensions between India and Pakistan boiled over in April and May, social media restrictions, viral misinformation, and gendered harassment distorted perceptions of the conflict.
Facts on the ground
On April 22, gunmen attacked a group of tourists in Pahalgam, a resort town in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, killing at least 26 people. A little-known militant group claimed responsibility, and India blamed the government of Pakistan, with Pakistan refuting the charge. Following weeks of escalating tensions and frayed relations, a ceasefire was declared on May 10. All the while, waves of falsehoods lit up social media sites and even appeared on television news. Speaking with the Reuters Institute, India-based fact-checker Uzair Rizvi recalled feeling “as if a month’s worth of misinformation bombarded social media within the first few hours.”
“By the end of 7 May, I had examined about 70 unique posts of misinformation. Considering all these posts were shared thousands of times, the extent of misinformation was immense,” Rizvi added. The fact-checker posted several examples in a thread on X.
What stayed online — and what got blocked
Amid the deluge of misinformation, Indian authorities restricted access to The Wire, a reputable independent news source, arrested a freelance journalist, and asked X to geoblock thousands of accounts. More than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels came down, including Dawn’s, which was also done at the Indian government’s request. These moves were met with condemnation from Reporters Without Borders.
Meanwhile, our friends at The Quint were tracking misinformation related to the rapidly unfolding events. Fake reports of radiation and phony news about military losses circulated widely next to unrelated, outdated images that had been repurposed with false captions attempting to connect them to the current conflict. Likewise, AI-manipulated video footage spread online.
Digital spaces fomented gendered violence
Gendered abuse also played a prominent role in the information chaos. As the majority of people killed in the April 22 attack were Hindu men, local media observed that responses from the Indian government emphasized a need to avenge the losses suffered by women whose husbands were killed in the attack. Online narratives echoed that sentiment. Our colleagues at the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) issued a short report describing how gendered and sexualized violence, misogynistic humor, and transphobia took hold amid digital hostilities.
“The India-Pakistan conflict of May 2025 exposed how gendered violence becomes central, not collateral, in digital warfare,” the authors wrote. The report traced narrative trends that framed the violence as a form of sexual or gendered conquest, targeted specific individuals, and upheld harmful stereotypes. Meedan’s partners at DRF also observed that social media platforms seemed poorly equipped to both identify abusive terms in local languages and to investigate and address flagged content. And while tensions have since simmered down, much of this troubling content remains online.
Iran’s internet goes dark
Following Israeli airstrikes targeting key Iranian military and nuclear sites, internet connectivity in Iran hit rock-bottom levels, according to technical researchers. This left most Iranians without access to basic information about where to take shelter or how to safely move from place to place. Government officials commenting on the shutdowns cited a need to mitigate cyberattacks. But in an interview with Radio Farda, cybersecurity expert Mamadou Babaei said he thought the move was political. “I believe [authorities] have shut down the Internet to prevent an uprising by the people and also to manage the [crisis] situation,” he said.
Contact us to explore collaboration opportunities.
DEFINE_gendered chilling effect
“Generally, the term ‘chilling effect’ has been used to describe situations in which laws have deterred people from exercising their freedoms for fear of legal repercussions. In the case of [technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV)], the chilling effect occurs when women censor themselves online to avoid violence. By creating a hostile environment for women and LGBTQ+ people in online spaces, TFGBV serves as a mechanism of political and social exclusion. Many girls and women have opted out of politics or public discourse because of TFGBV.”
— Kristine Baekgaard, “Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: An Emerging Issue in Women, Peace and Security”
Townsquare
June 30
International Civil Society Week 2025, an initiative of the global civil society alliance CIVICUS and Asia Democracy Network, brings together global civil society. This year’s gathering will take place in Bangkok from Nov. 1-5. Submit ideas for sessions, activities, and more until June 30.
July 31
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative is now accepting applications for its 2026 research grants. Share your ideas for innovative research that will contribute to the prevention and response of violence against women, violence against children, and other forms of violence driven by gender inequality in low- and middle-income countries. Applications are due July 31.
Aug. 26-27
The 2025 Digital Rights in the Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC25) Assembly will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bringing together diverse stakeholders to combat rising digital authoritarianism in the region by collaboratively shaping rights-based digital governance, bolstering the resilience of at-risk human rights defenders, and pioneering innovative strategies through cross-sector alliances. The assembly takes place Aug. 26-27.
What we’re reading
“What would happen if technology companies treated online abuse more like spam? In other words, what if platforms empowered individual users with a mechanism that automatically detected potentially abusive content proactively and quarantined it, so that users could then choose to review and address it — or ignore it altogether? We examine the pros, cons, and nuances involved in this proposal, from both a technical and sociocultural standpoint.”
(Yael Grauer, Deepak Kumar, and Viktorya Vilk, PEN America)
These journalism pioneers are working to keep their countries’ languages alive in the age of AI news
“While AI models in languages like English, Spanish, and French have ample training and resources, profound linguistic and cultural biases embedded within many mainstream AI tools pose substantial challenges for newsrooms and communities operating outside of dominant Western languages and cultural contexts.”
(Gretel Kahn, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism)
“Selling iris data? Ocular biometrics? These terms, not commonly heard until recently, have become a regular topic of discussion among friends, families, and communities in São Paulo.”
(Artur Ferreira and Isabela do Carmo translated by Liam Anderson, Agência Mural republished in English by Global Voices)
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