“War is no longer just kinetic. It’s cognitive.”
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Kashmir, India — Operation Sindoor, India’s military response to the May 2025 terrorist attack on tourists in Kashmir, has officially ended. However, the information war it sparked continues across television studios and social media feeds, and is leading to a growing crackdown on free speech across the internet.
The continuing fallout raises questions about the general credibility of journalists, government sources, and social media platforms, especially when it comes to shaping — and often skewing — the public’s understanding of conflicts.
A Dual Battlefield: Missiles and Memes
When 25 tourists and a driver were killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, India responded with Operation Sindoor, a campaign battering Pakistan with air strikes and artillery. The information offensive that paralleled the military offensive was unprecedented in scale and coordination.
Within 24 hours, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered the suspension of over 8,000 accounts on X (formerly Twitter). The blocked accounts included independent digital news platforms such as The Kashmiriyat, one of the fastest-growing news organizations in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Free Press Kashmir, a weekly news tabloid, also published in Kashmir. Journalists Anuradha Bhasin and Muzamil Jaleel, were censored.
The Internet Freedom Foundation, a Delhi-based digital rights group, labeled the action “an opaque suppression of dissent,” noting that the government failed to publish a list of the suspended accounts, and never provided a legal justification for shutting them down. Most of the shuttered accounts are still inactive. Media outlets have been unable to post news, and journalists are reporting continuing threats and official intimidation.
Both India and Pakistan quickly weaponized social media with trending hashtags such as #PakSurrender and #GenocideInKashmir. The EU’s Disinfo Lab reported in its May 15 bulletin that both campaigns were driven by normal user activity greatly amplified by traffic from automated “bot” accounts.
Pakistan’s government-run Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) responded to India’s crackdown by broadcasting videos blaming India for extensive damage to Pakistan’s territory.
Pakistan Digital Media Watch, a local fact-checking group, later revealed that many of the videos involved recycled footage from past natural disasters that had nothing to do with the current situation.
Both India and Pakistan quickly weaponized social media with trending hashtags such as #PakSurrender and #GenocideInKashmir. The EU’s Disinfo Lab reported in its May 15 bulletin that both campaigns were driven by normal user activity greatly amplified by traffic from automated “bot” accounts.
Misinformation Blitz
On May 8, India’s Times Now Navbharat TV channel broadcast animated video clips depicting Indian forces advancing into Pakistan. On-air news anchors applauded as war-themed graphics rolled across the screen.
But, the Indian army officially denied that such attacks had taken place.
Republic Bharat — one of the top Hindi TV channels, serving a mass audience in northern India and known for sensationalism and hyper-nationalist coverage — claimed that India had launched surgical strikes against Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city.
The Wire, an Indian investigative news site, reported soon afterwards that multiple defense sources denied that there had been any attack against Lahore.
Zee News, an Indian Hindi-language right-wing news channel, nevertheless announced the “capture of Lahore.” India News, a Hindi news channel, claimed that Pakistan had already “surrendered.”
NDTV (New Delhi Television), an Indian media company that operates television channels and a digital news platform known for its news reporting and current affairs programming, reported Pakistani tanks moving toward Rajasthan. It later retracted its report.
ABP Ananda, a free Bengali news channel, broadcast footage of a 2013 Philadelphia plane crash, claiming that what viewers were seeing was actually damage to Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city.
Aaj Tak, an Indian Hindi-language television news channel owned by the TV Today Network, reported suicide bombings against Indian military bases. Indian Army officials denied the report within minutes.
News9 and India TV reported the capture of a Pakistani air force pilot. The Indian Defense Ministry said that nothing of the kind ever happened.
According to fact-checkers from Alt News and The Quint’s WebQoof, more than 70 major misinformation cases were documented within the first 48 hours of the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan.
“Both countries are using legal tools to institutionalize information control,” said Shalini Singh of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore. “It’s no longer about denying facts — it’s about constructing an entirely new reality.”
The current situation can be compared to what came to be known as the Balakot crisis, which erupted in early 2019 after 40 Indian police officers were killed when a police convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber, also in Kashmir. India responded with airstrikes against Pakistan’s territory.
The major difference in both Pakistan’s and India’s responses this time is the level of coordination of misinformation across multiple communications channels. “This far exceeds anything we saw during Balakot,” says Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, “What’s new is the scale and coordination across TV, social media, and even through official briefings.”
The Cost of Narrative Control
India’s recently enacted Digital India Act dramatically expands government control over online platforms. It authorizes the Ministry of IT to order takedowns without court oversight. Access Now reports that, with 84 shutdowns in 2024 alone, India leads the rest of the world in internet closures and has done so for the last five years.
In the meantime, Pakistan has used the 2016 Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to arrest journalists, block websites, and pressure dissenting outlets. In March, Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan was detained for more than two weeks after criticizing the military on X. PECA’s vague language can trigger prosecution for any content deemed “against the interests of the state.” It has been used to block over 150 news sites since 2020.
“Both countries are using legal tools to institutionalize information control,” said Shalini Singh of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore. “It’s no longer about denying facts — it’s about constructing an entirely new reality.”
Tech Platforms in the Crossfire
Global tech companies are largely silent about diminishing free speech on the internet. X recently confirmed its compliance with Indian takedown requests under the IT Rules 2021, but the company refused to disclose specific account names or criteria used. Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) reportedly complied with both Indian and Pakistani censorship demands, according to transparency reports from the Digital Rights Foundation in Lahore.
“This silence amounts to complicity,” said Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of The Kashmir Times, one of the largest daily newspapers of Jammu and Kashmir.
“By refusing to defend journalistic voices or explain takedown processes, platforms are enabling governments to suppress independent reporting.”
Journalism Under Siege
Bhasin, whose own X account was suspended without explanation, says Indian media has “become the leading purveyor of fake news during this conflict,” a trend mirrored in Pakistan. “Television news has crossed every ethical line for ratings,” she said, citing examples of fabricated visuals and planted narratives.
Young journalists, she warned, are “growing up in an environment where state propaganda is normalized, and ethical mentorship is vanishing.”
Still, she credits outlets such as The Wire, Scroll, and Newslaundry for “holding the line” with evidence-based reporting. But many others are quitting the profession, unwilling to work under surveillance, censorship, or threats of legal action.
A Dangerous Precedent
India’s Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan recently told The Hindu that “nearly 15 percent of the army’s efforts during Operation Sindoor was spent countering misinformation.” He acknowledged the challenge of operating in an “era of narrative warfare,” where battlefield success may matter less than public perception.
While neither side has reported further hostilities since May 12, analysts fear the playbook of media manipulation, mass censorship, and algorithmic distortion will remain. What was once considered strictly wartime propaganda is now daily practice.
“War is no longer just kinetic,” said Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain, a retired Indian army commander. “It’s cognitive. It’s fought in the minds of citizens before the first bullet is fired.”
In Kashmir — where the line between fact and fiction now shifts with every scroll and swipe in social media — the greatest casualty may not be free speech. It may be the truth itself. In this Brave New World, facts have become less important than the battle of narratives.
