Fact-check: Experts debunk claims that Google Maps has renamed Adiala jail after Imran Khan

Social media posts, viewed and shared over 500,000 times, claim that Google Maps has labelled the Central Jail in Rawalpindi as “Imran Khan Jail” in reference to former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated there since last August.

The claim is false.

Claim

On July 25, a user on X (formerly Twitter) claimed that Google has renamed Adiala Jail to reflect its association with Imran Khan. The post included a purported screenshot showing the jail’s location with the title “Adiala Jail (Imran Khan).”

This post has garnered over 300,000 views, 6,800 reposts, and 19,000 likes.

The claims also took off on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Fact

Information technology experts have refuted the online claims as false, confirming that Google Maps has not renamed Adiala Jail after the former prime minister.

Asad Baig, the executive director and founder of Islamabad-based Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD), a non-profit that works for media literacy and development in Pakistan, told Geo Fact Check that the online claims were “false”.

“Google doesn't take political positions, especially in-terms of hyperlocal politics,” Baig explained. 

“Google Maps depends on a variety of methods when it comes to labeling the sites, one of which is user-generated labels or 'user contributions'. Oftentimes individual users can submit misleading or false information, which can be corrected by other users by using the 'report a problem' feature.”

Parvez Iftikhar, an information technology consultant in Islamabad, added that while searching Google Maps for “Imran Khan Jail” will direct users to Adiala Jail, the name of the location itself has not been changed.

He noted that changing a location's name is technically feasible but requires a rigorous verification process involving AI algorithms, human moderators, and sometimes government cross-checks.

Geo Fact Check also verified that Adiala Jail is still labeled as “Adiala Jail Rawalpindi” on Google Maps and not as “Imran Khan Jail.”

On August 5, following the publication of this report, a response from Google explained that while users can contribute information to Google Maps, the platform's automated systems and trained operators monitor for suspicious behavior and work to swiftly remove any content that violates their policies.

Google further clarified that the "incorrect name" in question has been removed and that safeguards have been implemented on the listing to prevent additional policy-violating edits.

Therefore, Google did not rename Adiala Jail to "Imran Khan Jail" itself.

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