A screenshot from a TV news report aired last year on DawnNewsTV is being circulated on social media with the suggestion that the incumbent government has announced a new crackdown on social media accounts spreading negative propaganda against the prime minister and state institutions.

While the screenshot itself is authentic — unlike earlier pictures of Dawn.com which were doctored to spread fake news — the news does not pertain to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.

The clip from which the screenshot has been taken was aired in March 2017 and the move had, in fact, been announced by the PML-N government to 'safeguard' then prime minister Nawaz Sharif from criticism on social media.

Dawn.com has verified the particulars of this snapshot by reviewing footage from the DawnNews archives.

This is not the first time that fake news has been attributed to a Dawn brand. On a number of occasions, doctored screenshots posing as Dawn.com were shared on social media to spread fake and malicious 'news'.