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 Facebook on 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.

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...

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