I was riding my bike, crossing an underpass, when I saw a man struggling to walk with a polio-affected leg. He gestured for a ride, and I stopped to help.

As he settled on the seat behind me, I casually asked, "What happened to your leg?" He sighed and replied, "It is because of polio. When I was a child, my parents refused to get me vaccinated. They believed the polio vaccine was haram (forbidden) in Islam, and they had other excuses too — saying it was part of some conspiracy or that it would make me infertile." His words stayed in my mind. A life-changing disability, not by fate but by false information.

This is the world we live in today. Influencers, not journalists, are shaping public discourse, and where truth competes with virality, engagement and profit-driven disinformation.

The rise of digital content creators has fundamentally changed the way Pakistanis consume information, but not always for the better. Social media was supposed to democratise access to information, but instead, it has weaponised misinformation and disinformation, often at the cost of public health, democracy and social harmony.

Unlike trained journalists who work under editorial scrutiny, influencers operate with zero accountability. They claim expertise on everything from politics to vaccines and yet, a majority of them do not verify their content before posting. A recent UNESCO report on digital content creators found that 42% of influencers determine credibility based on........

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