UN institute provides viewcount on PM Shehbaz’s General Assembly speech on UN YT channel

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the alleged UN Centre for Public Opinion Research that was cited to be the source of the statistics for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Various media outlets shared the news on September 30, 2024, that PM Shehbaz’s speech at the UNGA garnered the most views of any world leader, citing the statistics as being from the UN Centre for Public Opinion Research. However, the institution in question has no affiliation with the UN.

PM Shehbaz addressed the UNGA on September 27, where he demanded an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, terming it “systematic slaughter” and “bloodshed”, and urged India to halt targeting innocent Kashmiris.

HOW IT STARTED

On September 30, 2024, state media outlet Radio Pakistan shared a news story, titled: “PM’s address to the UNGA session was the most viewed speech”.

The report cited “statistics from the UN Centre for Public Opinion Research” showed that PM Shehbaz had become the most-viewed speaker on the UN’s official YouTube channel.

This story was subsequently picked up the same day by the Express Tribune and ARY News which also quoted the “UN Centre for Public Opinion Research”.

The same institution was also cited in a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office issued on the X account of state broadcaster PTV on September 30. The press release is reproduced below in full:

“Among the speeches of world leaders on the official YouTube channel of the United Nations, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech was the most viewed.

The United Nations Centre for Public Opinion Research released the statistics.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech was viewed the most on the official YouTube channel of the United Nations.

Addresses to the United Nations General Assembly became the most watched world leaders in the world.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the United Nations meeting was watched by 137,000 people on the UN official YouTube channel.

World leaders’ address to the General Assembly was broadcast live on the UN official YouTube channel.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address was also seen by 1.6 million people on Al Jazeera‘s TikTok account.”

The part about the alleged UN centre was also subsequently posted by PTV, APP and the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme on their X accounts.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to the keen public interest in the prime minister’s address at the UNGA amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Preliminary research showed that no UN agency provided such statistics about views on its YouTube videos and a keyword search for “UN Centre for Public Opinion Research” yielded nothing.

A graphic that was widely shared by the media outlets along the news included the logo of the supposed UN centre.

Conducting a reverse image search for the logo of the alleged institution yielded its Facebook page and website, which showed that it was actually a Pakistani consulting agency.

The website itself made no reference to or included anything about any affiliation with the UN.

Further examination showed that the centre had shared the graphic about the statistics of the prime minister’s speech.

Furthermore, the centre itself issued a clarification statement on October 1, 2024, regarding it being linked to the UN by state and private media outlets, saying that it had no affiliation with the UN.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a so-called UN Centre for Public Opinion Research provided statistics about the number of views on PM Shehbaz’s UNGA address on the UN’s YouTube channel is false.

The centre in question is just a Pakistani consulting agency and already clarified itself that it has no link with the UN.

Evidence and References

Centre for Public Opinion and Research October 1, 2024, clarification statement:
https://cpor.com.pk/clarification-statement-regarding-recent-media-coverage/