Pakistani authorities have arrested a man in Lahore accused of spreading fake news that fueled far-right violence in the UK following a stabbing incident in Southport.
Farhan Asif, who operates the digital platform Channel3Now, was detained after UK broadcaster ITV News identified him as the source of misinformation that falsely claimed the 17-year-old suspect in the Southport attack was a Muslim immigrant.
Investigations revealed that Channel3Now, the platform responsible for the fake news, was managed by Asif from Lahore.
Lahore’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Operations, Faisal Kamran, confirmed that Asif has been handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation.
Asif has denied the allegations, stating that he copied the information from a social media post and did not originate the content.
He claimed that upon realizing the error, he issued an apology and deleted the post, but the misinformation continued to spread.