False info campaigns ramp up against interim Govt
Staff Reporter :
A video from a previous incident, falsely claiming to depict a meeting between former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted during the July uprising in 2024, and a UN team, has been widely circulated.
This misinformation was uncovered through an investigation by BanglaFact, a fact-checking and media research unit under the Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB).
The investigation revealed that a video showing a civic reception for Sheikh Hasina in London in 2023 was uploaded to social media, misrepresented as a meeting with the UN team in Delhi.
BanglaFact found numerous social media posts featuring Sheikh Hasina’s image, which were circulated in Delhi, wrongly claiming it was from a UN meeting, while the same photo had originally been used for her reception at the Awami League event in London in 2023.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s fact-checking body, Rumor Scanner, identified 271 instances of misinformation circulating online in January and 268 in February.
According to data compiled from fact-check reports on Rumor Scanner’s website, political topics were the most affected, with 114 cases, accounting for 42 per cent of all detected misinformation.
This was followed by 67 cases related to national issues, 29 concerning international affairs, 18 about religion, 15 in entertainment and literature, 9 in education, 6 in fraud, and 5 in sports.
In February, the highest number of misinformation cases-127-were related to political issues, representing 47 per cent of the total misinformation.
There were also 73 cases concerning national issues, 10 related to international matters, 18 on religious topics, 8 in entertainment and literature, 5 in education, 16 on fraud, and 7 in sports, as reported on Rumor Scanner’s website.
Among these incidents, the majority were classified as information-based errors, with 108 cases, followed by
64 image-based errors and 96 video-based errors.
Of the identified misinformation, 164 were deemed false, 64 misleading, and 40 distorted. Facebook was the platform most commonly used to spread misinformation last month, with 250 cases.
Additionally, 44 cases were found on X, 16 on TikTok, 38 on YouTube, 21 on Instagram, and at least three cases of misinformation were identified on Threads. The media in the country was also implicated in spreading misinformation, with Rumor Scanner noting 10 incidents involving various media outlets.
Since last year, there has been a noticeable increase in the dissemination of false information about Bangladesh from Indian media and various social media accounts based in India.
Rumor Scanner observed this trend continuing in February, with misinformation appearing in nine incidents involving Bangladesh in Indian media and three incidents from Indian social media accounts and pages.
The issue of communal misinformation has been widely discussed in recent months, with Rumor Scanner identifying 20 such instances in February. Half of these cases appeared to originate from Indian accounts and pages on social media.
The Rumor Scanner team noted that 16 pieces of misinformation were spread last month concerning the current interim government, with an equal number of false claims made about Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to the interim government.
Among the government’s advisors, four pieces of misinformation (all negative) were identified about Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, two (all negative) about Nahid Islam, three (all negative) about Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, and one (all negative) each about AFM Khalid Hossain, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Dr. Asif Nazrul, and three (all negative) about the Chief Advisor’s Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam.
Rumor Scanner’s analysis of last month’s fact-checks revealed that the Bangladesh Awami League (16) received the most misinformation among political parties during this period, with all of these claims creating a positive impression of the party.
Nine pieces of misinformation (78 per cent in favour) were identified regarding the party’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, while evidence of 12 pieces of misinformation (58 per cent in favour) was found concerning the party’s president, Sheikh Hasina.
Rumor Scanner detected one (negative) misinformation campaign involving the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) last month.
During this period, one (negative) piece of misinformation was spread about the party’s chairperson Khaleda Zia, one about acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and four (all negative) campaigns were directed against Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Additionally, 13 misinformation campaigns (all negative) were identified involving Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, with evidence of three (all negative) campaigns concerning the party’s Ameer, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman. Sixteen misinformation campaigns (87.5 per cent negative) were carried out during this period involving the party’s student organisation, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.
The students who led the July mass uprising recently formed a new political party called the JatiyaNagorik Party. The top position, the convener, of this party is Nahid Islam, who recently stepped down from the position of advisor to the interim government. A fake news story was spread about him last month.
In addition, a new student organisation called the Bangladesh Democratic Students’ Union was also formed last month. A fake news story was also circulated about this organisation in February.