DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A video is being shared on X.com depicting purpotedly the shooting down of Indian Rafale jets by Pakistan with the help of Chinese missiles. Citing a report by The Telegraph, the claim has been widely shared.
See the video here:
Indian Fighter Jets RAFALE & SU-30 Shot Down by Pakistan Air Force#IndiaPakistanTensions #pakistanattack #reels pic.twitter.com/sE6ITUAkjE
— Centrist Nation TV (@centristnattv) May 6, 2025
The post can be seen here and here.
FACT-CHECK
When Digiteye India team searched for news, The Telegraph report posted on May 8, 2025 featured the same headline but failed to source the authentic claim. India has categorically denied the claim and the PIB Fact Checking Unit denied it as seen below:
⚠️Propaganda Alert!
Beware of old images shared by pro-Pakistan handles in the present context!
An #old image showing a crashed aircraft is being circulated with the claim that Pakistan recently shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur during the ongoing #OperationSindoor… pic.twitter.com/LdkJ1JYuH0
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 7, 2025
Further, taking keyframes from the video, we looked up for search results on Google Reverse Image Search and found that an year-old unrelated video was used to support the claim. While India categorically denied the report as fake news, even Pakistan officials in their press conference denied these claims.
The original Telegraph article stated that Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar claimed that Pakistan had shot down three Indian Rafale jets. “India has not officially responded to reports that it lost as many as five fighter jets. But the apparent involvement of Chinese aircraft in shooting down a Rafale has ricocheted through defence circles – and sent stock in its maker, Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, surging by as much as 20 per cent,” the article adds. It was summed up in a post on Facebook here.
Memphis Barker, the writer of the actual article featured in The Telegraph, later reposted a denial of the report by Indian journalist Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush), dated May 12, 2025, and calling it a “fake story.”
Hence, the claim is false.
Claim: Video shows India’s Rafale jet shot down by Pakistan.
Conclusion: Misrepresentation. An old video has been used to claim it was India’s Rafale jet shot down by Pakistan.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
