Delhi Police blocks 400+ Pakistan-operated accounts spreading fake protest content

On Saturday, Delhi Police announced they had identified and blocked more than 400 social media accounts operating from Pakistan that were spreading fabricated content tied to student protests at Jantar Mantar. The accounts, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Rohit Rajbir Singh, had circulated AI-generated material, deepfake videos, and doctored photographs related to demonstrations over the NEET examination paper leak. The operation represented a coordinated effort between Delhi Police and other agencies to track and disable what officials characterized as a sustained disinformation campaign.

The timing of the disclosure was significant. Singh made the announcement during a press briefing held as protests continued at Jantar Mantar, where students had gathered for weeks demanding accountability over irregularities in the competitive medical entrance exam. The scale of the operation—more than 400 accounts—suggested a systematic effort rather than isolated bad actors. Police indicated they were still working to identify additional accounts and that the investigation was ongoing.

What made the discovery noteworthy was the scope of the accounts' activity. The same handles had previously been active during Operation Sindoor, India's military response to a terror attack in Pahalgam in May 2025. During that period, the accounts had spread false information by manipulating official statements from senior officers and altering visual content. The pattern indicated these accounts were not focused on a single issue but appeared designed to exploit moments of national tension and public attention.

Singh emphasized the mechanics of the disinformation. The accounts had edited official statements, doctored images, and created synthetic content—techniques that exploit how quickly information spreads on social media. He noted that while posts and videos circulate rapidly online, not all of them are accurate, and urged the public to verify authenticity before sharing. The warning was direct: in an environment where misinformation travels faster than corrections, individual judgment matters.

Delhi Police's response included both enforcement and public education. Beyond blocking accounts, the department said it was continuously monitoring social media platforms and publishing its own posts to help people distinguish genuine content from false material. The effort acknowledged a reality that blocking alone cannot solve: once fabricated content enters circulation, it often persists in screenshots, reposts, and shares beyond the reach of platform enforcement.

In a separate but related move, Delhi Police announced the formation of a Special Task Force within the Crime Branch dedicated to combating paper leaks and irregularities in competitive examinations. The task force would be led by a DCP-level officer and supervised by the Special Commissioner for Crime. The creation of this unit reflected the seriousness with which authorities were treating both the underlying exam security failures and the information environment surrounding them.

The announcement raised questions about the scale of foreign disinformation operations targeting Indian domestic issues and the vulnerability of public discourse to coordinated manipulation. That more than 400 accounts could operate undetected for an extended period suggested either the difficulty of identifying such operations or gaps in monitoring capacity. Singh's call for public vigilance—fact-checking before sharing, verifying sources—placed responsibility partly on individual users to resist the spread of false content, even as authorities worked to disable the accounts at their source.