Claim: The video shows a government representative confirming that Facebook will be banned in Pakistan in 2026.
fact: All clips are AI-generated as they include Veo watermarks.
December 15th on Facebook post (archive) shared a video that appears to show a government representative confirming that Facebook will be banned in Pakistan in 2026. The video shows a man standing on a podium and addressing the media. In the post description, [translated from Urdu into English]: “Facebook will be completely shut down in Pakistan by 2026. The government has officially confirmed this. #Pakistan #Viral #News #Karachi #Islamabad”.
Another similar post (archive) included a video of a man claiming that Facebook would be shut down by December 20th.
Soch fact check We investigated this claim because all viral videos include a Veo watermark indicating they were generated by AI. Initial keyword searches did not yield conclusive evidence that Facebook will be shut down in Pakistan this December or in 2026.
But we found an older press release From May 2010, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a directive banning Facebook following a Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling.. “The Lahore High Court has ordered the Ministry of Telecommunications to ban social networking websites following the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) caricature controversy.” express tribune reported In May 2010.
It is important to note that social media platforms, including Facebook, among others, have faced temporary closures and restrictions. meanwhile protests or religious Processions that have been held in Pakistan over the past few years. However, there are no credible reports that the government has recently announced the closure of Meta's platform.
At the time of writing, Facebook was accessible and debunked claims that it would be banned in December of this year.
Video generated with Veo
video 1 (archive): If you analyze this clip, you will see all the signs that it was generated by AI.
The Urdu text on the news ticker on the screen and the microphone in front of the speaker is garbled and makes no sense. sign AI cannot produce consistent text, so it is being used to create it.
Garbled text on ticker and microphone.
The reporter's hand, visible at 0:05, morphs and morphs (highlighted below), and at some moments appears to have more than five fingers, again demonstrating the use of AI.
Highlight showing distorted hands.
Additionally, the clip has a “Veo” watermark in the bottom right corner, letting you know it was created with this software. Veo is the AI generation software By Google. This year, tech giant announced that it would be add This watermark is applied to videos generated by the software.
The Veo watermark will appear in the bottom right corner of the video.
Soch fact check We also ran the clip through multiple AI detection tools. two tools, hive moderation and Zhuque AI Discovery Assistantwe obtained low probabilities of 0.4% and 1.12%, respectively, indicating that the tool suggests that the content was not generated by AI.
However, Deepfake-O-Meter, initiative Researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown that it was likely generated by AI. Nine of the 12 algorithms obtained scores above 50% (see below), which confirms that they are fake.
Deepfake-O-Meter results.
therefore, Soch fact checkanalysis, the presence of the Veo watermark, and Deepfake-O-Meter results confirm that the video was generated by AI.
video 2 (archive): This clip also has all the signs of being generated by AI. For example, in this video, the screen ticker and microphone also display garbled text.
Toward the end of the video, one hand with only four fingers and another hand next to it appear blurred and distorted. Both are highlighted in the screenshot below.
The hand is distorted and has a Veo watermark.
Additionally, just like the watermark on the first video, this clip also has a Veo watermark, indicating that it was created using the software.
Soch fact check We also ran this clip through multiple AI detection tools. In this case, Hive Moderation achieved a high probability of 99.6%. This means that “overall, videos are more likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.”
Hive moderation results for the second video.
Deepfake-O-Meter's seven algorithms also yielded a probability greater than 50%, indicating that the video was likely generated by AI, as shown below.
Deepfake-O-Meter results.
However, only one tool, Zhuque AI Detection, had a score of 11.49%. This means that, according to the tool, this video was not generated by AI.
Results from 2 of 3 AI detection tools: Veo Watermark; Soch fact checkanalysis confirmed that the clip was generated by AI.
first clip has been viewed at least 81,000 times and had 1,700 responses.
of Number 2 This clip received 21,00 views.
This user has also shared other similar videos that include the Veo watermark here, here, here, hereand here.
Conclusion: A video claiming to show a government representative announcing Facebook's shutdown is fake. All videos have a Veo watermark to let you know they were generated by AI.
Cover photo background image: dawn
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