US President Donald Trump did not announce during a speech on January 19 that he would lift bans on X in countries where the social media site is inaccessible, contrary to claims that repeatedly surfaced online in Pakistan. The South Asian nation's interior ministry said X was blocked on security grounds, with the site rarely accessible after jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's calls for protests following controversial elections in February 2024. Posts that shared the false claim featured a clip that merely showed Trump sharing the stage with X owner Elon Musk.
"Big announcement by Trump. Trump called Elon Musk on stage to say that the ban of X will soon be lifted wherever it is banned," reads the Urdu-language text in a video published on Facebookon January 20, 2025.
The user has previously published posts supportive of Khan.
It shows a clip of Trump introducing Musk at a rally, who took the stage and gave a short speech. He did not mention X in the video.
A photograph of Khan is also seen next to the clip.
© AFP
Access to X became sporadic in the wake of the February 2024 election, where Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won more seats than any other party but a coalition considered more pliable to the military's influence shut them out of power. Pakistan's interior ministry admitted in court papers that the platform was blocked on security grounds (archived link).
The site -- along with Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- were key planks in the election campaigning of Khan (archived link).
US media reported some of his aides hoped Trump's reelection would help secure the release of the former prime minister based on their past relationship (archived link).
Khan's supporters have also protested outside Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida demanding his help (archived link).
The former cricket star was arrested in May 2023 after being ousted from office and mounting an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the nation's powerful military leaders (archived link).
A member of PTI shared the same video with a similar false claim on X, while another supporter posted the video on Facebook.
But neither Trump nor Musk announced X would be unbanned in Pakistan during the speech.
Keyword searches found the full speech video on US outlet Fox News' YouTube channel showing Trump at a rally on January 19 before his inauguration (archived link).
The video in the false post corresponds to the part between 24:50 and 25:26 in Fox News' video.
© AFP
An AFP journalist reviewed the clip and found Trump did not mention unbanning X in Pakistan during the speech.
Pakistan is one of the few countries where access to X is restricted, along with Iran, China and North Korea (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked Khan-related false claims here and here.
