Police in Lahore, Pakistan, identified the man arrested by the FIA as Farhan Asif. He was questioned on August 19 about spreading false posts based on information copied from a British social media account without verification.
According to the FIA statement, Farhan Asif used the X account @Channel3Nownews to share images of a video related to the stabbing that killed three children at a dance class in Southport, England on July 29. Asif then went on to post an article on the website www.channel3now.com with a caption saying that a 17-year-old had been arrested in connection with the stabbing.
The FIA said the article contained false information that the person arrested by police was a Muslim asylum seeker.
During questioning, it was learned that the website Asif ran was mainly used to post stories in the US, UK and Australia to attract online traffic from those countries and generate revenue through Google Ads, a police official said.
According to the official, Asif told police that he could earn nearly a thousand dollars a month by doing this. Asif said he deleted the post and apologized immediately.
After questioning Asif, the police official said that Asif’s case has been taken over by the FIA for investigation.
The first protests in Southport, northern England, erupted late last month after misinformation about the stabbing sparked anger against immigrants.
