The conflict between Israel and Iran that escalated on June 13 was the most fact-checked topic in June.
In all, we published 92 fact-checks across English, Hindi, and Bangla. Of these, 35% (32 fact-checks) focused on the Israel-Iran conflict, followed by 11% (10 fact-checks) related to the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash.
Misreporting by mainstream media outlets peaked in June 2025, with BOOM publishing 10 fact-checks on false or misleading claims reported by media outlets.
Republic TV was the leading source of media misinformation in June— with three fact-checks. Sudarshan News and Zee News followed, with two fact-checks each for spreading false or misleading information, among others.
A significant portion of misinformation surrounding the Israel-Iran conflict targeted the Iranian government and its citizens, accounting for 17.4% of the false narratives. This was followed by false claims aimed at the Israeli government and its nationals (9.8%).
The conflict also brought in a wave of misinformation involving old and unrelated footage from other regional conflicts, falsely linked to the Israel-Iran situation. Of the 32 fact-checks written on the Israel-Iran conflict, 75% were found to involve recycled or misattributed videos.
A total of 15 AI-related fact-checks were published, with nearly half connected to the Israel-Iran conflict. These included 8 AI-generated videos, 5 AI images, and three deepfakes.
Theme Assessment
False narratives around the Israel-Iran conflict
Use of old conflict footage
On June 13, Israel—backed by the United States—and Iran engaged in a 12-day exchange of military strikes, resulting in the deaths of at least 224 people in Iran and 24 in Israel. During this time, social media was flooded with videos purportedly showing scenes from the conflict, including explosions and missile strikes.
One such video, which went viral, falsely claimed to show a nuclear attack by Iran on Israel. However BOOM found that the footage was from a massive chemical explosion that occurred in August 2015 at a warehouse in Tianjin port, China, killing at least 173 people. We also found that the video was misattributed multiple times in the past.
In another instance, a video circulated online claiming to show the aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv, alleging that a massive fire had broken out and caused numerous deaths among Jews in Israel’s capital. However, the footage originated from a fire at a college building in England in April 2025 and had no connection to the conflict between Israel and Iran.
AI-related falsehoods
We also debunked several AI-generated images and videos that falsely claimed Iran had successfully conducted a nuclear test, as well as clips purporting to show Israeli citizens taking to the streets to apologize and plead for forgiveness from Iran.
BOOM verified these videos using AI detection tools such as Hive Moderation and WasItAI, both of which confirmed with over 99% certainty that the videos were artificially generated.
Misinformation around Air India AI171 Crash
Air India flight AI171, a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed just seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport on June 12. The aircraft crashed into the hostel block of B.J. Medical College in the Meghani Nagar neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, killing all but one person on board.
The incident triggered a surge of misinformation online, with old videos of plane crashes from other countries being falsely linked to the tragedy. Old recordings of pilots were also widely shared on social media, wrongly identified as the pilot of the AI171 flight.
A 2023 video showing a plane crash in Nepal, accidentally live-streamed by a passenger, went viral with false claims that it captured the final moments of the Air India flight. However, BOOM found that the footage was originally from the crash of a Yeti Airlines flight near Pokhara on January 15, 2023, in which all 72 passengers on board lost their lives.
Similarly, an old image showing an Air India Express plane split open went viral with the false claim that it depicted the recent Air India crash. We found that the photo was from August 7, 2020, which showed the aftermath of an Air India Express flight from Dubai that crash-landed at Kozhikode International Airport in Kerala.
An old in-flight selfie showing a woman with former Gujarat Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Rupani in the background went viral on social media, falsely claimed to be his “last photo” before the Air India AI171 crash. However, we found that the photo dated back to 2021. While Rupani was indeed on board Flight AI171, the circulated image was unrelated to the incident.
Media misreporting peaked in June 2025
Of the 10 media misreporting fact-checks we published, 3 were related to the Israel-Iran conflict and 2 to the Air India plane crash.
One widely shared video on X and Facebook falsely claimed to show an Iranian missile strike on Israel’s Home Ministry. Zee News also aired the same footage, incorrectly reporting that Iran had blown up the Israeli Home Ministry.
However, BOOM found that the footage was from Khujand, Tajikistan, where a fire broke out at a restaurant named Yakkasaroy on June 19, 2025.
Likewise, a viral video showing a fire was aired by Republic TV Bangla, which inaccurately claimed that it depicted an attack on the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. However, we found that the video was from a parking lot in Chongqing, China
Medium, Intent & Type of Deception
81.5 per cent of the fact-checks were shared via videos, followed by text (10 per cent) and images (8.7 per cent).
Regarding the intent behind spreading mis/disinformation, all the published fact-checks were under the “Sensationalist” category. 80.4 per cent of the total fact-checks consisted of false content, followed by fabricated content (16.3 per cent), misleading content (2.2 per cent).
