Fake News Stories about Celebrities Contributing to Dam Fund
Islamabad: Since Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a global fund-raising campaign for building dams the social media is abuzz with fake news stories about international personalities donating for the cause.
Those who figured in this campaign included Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, former president Pervez Musharraf and several others.
The PM called on overseas Pakistanis to contribute $1000 each for a fund set up by the Supreme Court to build Diamer-Bhasha dam.
A fake Facebook page named ‘PTI Washington DC’ claimed that Shahid Khan has announced to donate 10 million dollars for the PM-CJ Dam Fund. It triggered a wave of false claims on social media by several celebrities making their contributions noted.
However, this information proved fake. Senior PTI leader, Senator Faisal Javed Khan, categorically stated that the Facebook page created in the name of PTI is fake and that such ill-intended moves by some people are damaging a very noble cause. He urged the masses to stop for the sake of Pakistan.
Talking to Geo News anchor Munib Farooq, Javed said the government has received a very positive response from overseas Pakistanis and hopefully the campaign will be able to generate enough funds for the project.
An imposter pretending to be Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also made a pledge to contribute $5 million for the dam fund.
The fake Twitter account cropped up two days after the announcement by the prime minister.
“Pakistan's new government is serious in making dams and I'm sure Imran Khan will make dams in his government. As humanity, #Facebook will also participate in the Dam Fund #Facebook will give 5 million$ in the #PMDamFund,” the imposter tweeted.
In a second tweet, he said that he would soon visit Pakistan as an honest government was installed in the country.
“I will come to Pakistan very soon. We want to invest in Pakistan because there is an honest government in Pakistan,” he tweeted. – The News International
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