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.

This blog post was adapted from the June 2025 edition of our monthly newsletter. Subscribe to the Checklist today.

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 Fake reports of radiation and phony news about military losses circulated widely next to unrelated, outdated images that had been repurposed with false captions attempting to connect them to the current conflict.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.