Fake Facebook post posing as Dawn.com attempts to mislead public
A fake Facebook post screenshot doctored to pose as Dawn.com surfaced on social media on Thursday.
The fake post attempts to mislead the public and stakeholders by suggesting that Afghanistan accepted the Durand Line as an official border. It presented an image of Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar and Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and falsely claims this was discussed in a meeting.
The doctored image, which copies elements of Dawn’s social media and Facebook layout, led to the Afghan National Security Council (NSC) issuing a press release that mistakenly assumed the post was legitimate.
In order to ensure authorities and the public do not fall prey to such mischievous machinations in future, the following points detail how it can be identified that the Facebook post is fake.
1. Time stamp
A typical Facebook post has a time stamp and a privacy icon below the publisher’s name.
The doctored image has “3 Std.” written where the time stamp is located, while Facebook’s standard format is 34 mins, 2 hrs, and Friday at 7:29pm for minutes, hours and days.
2. Position of the ‘like’ thumb icon
Facebook places the ‘like’ thumb icon below posts. In the fake post, the thumb icon is floating at the top right near the menu button. It is also not correctly aligned with the menu button.
3. Stylistical differences with Dawn
The Facebook caption of the fake post introduces General Bajwa as “Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa”. A Pakistani publication does not need to tell its readers that General Bajwa is Pakistan’s army chief. Dawn, as shown in the lede of this very story, introduces General Bajwa as “Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa”. This may be verified in Dawn.com stories.
Dawn’s contraction for Chief of Army Staff is COAS, and not CoAS — unlike how it’s done in the fake post.
The caption also fails to capitalise the line in Durand Line which is not Dawn style.
The fake post ends with an exclamation mark, which as policy, Dawn does not use in hard news posts.
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