Citing a preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the Wall Street Journal notes that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines were moved to the "cutoff" position within a one-second interval, just moments after liftoff. The aircraft crashed 32 seconds after takeoff.

This response came after The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming that a cockpit voice recording allegedly suggested the captain of the ill-fated flight had manually cut off fuel supply to the engines.

Following the AAIB's preliminary report into the Air India AI 171 plane crash on 12 June 2025, social media users shared false and misleading claims surrounding the series of events leading up to, and the party responsible for the fatal crash.