KARACHI (APP) - The Centre of Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) has revealed that 2025 marked a turning point in the spread of AI-led misinformation, with the scale and sophistication of deepfakes and misleading content reaching unprecedented levels.
The findings were presented in a report launched on Monday, which examined trends in misinformation over a two-year period from December 2023 to November 2025.
The report is based on analysis conducted by CEJ’s fact-checking initiative, iVerify Pakistan, which reviewed 1,026 potentially false or misleading claims.
Of these, 513 were subjected to detailed verification across key areas including politics, religion, conflicts, and social issues.
Speaking at the launch, Chairperson of the CEJ Advisory Board, Azhar Abbas, warned that increasing restrictions on mainstream media were exacerbating the challenge of countering AI-driven disinformation. He said it was becoming increasingly difficult to combat misinformation when journalists were prevented from presenting verified facts. “When mainstream media is silenced, the vacuum is quickly filled by unverified social media content, anonymous platforms, and AI-driven networks,” he noted in his keynote address.
The iVerify Pakistan project, launched ahead of the 2024 general elections in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), identified politics as the most heavily exploited domain. According to the report, false and misleading narratives were routinely used to undermine electoral confidence, discredit political opponents, and erode public trust in state institutions.