The June 5 decision by Bangladesh’s High Court to abolish quotas and nullify a 2018 government order sparked significant political upheaval, eventually leading to the fall of the government just two months later. The situation escalated quickly, with widespread violence, including murders, arson, and looting, reported across the country. In the wake of these events, social media, particularly the platform X (formerly known as Twitter), became a hotbed for the spread of communal misinformation.
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner unit, an online fact checking site identified 50 accounts on X that were actively spreading communal misinformation about the recent events in Bangladesh. These accounts, most of which are based in India, were found to be sharing altered or false content, including videos and images, to stoke communal tensions. Notably, one widely circulated video falsely claimed that jihadists had attacked a camp of Hindu women and children in Bangladesh, leading to the deaths of hundreds, when in reality, the video was from an unrelated incident in Bogura where five people died due to electrocution during a religious procession.
A significant portion of the misinformation targeted Muslims, portraying them falsely as Hindus or manipulating content to suggest communal violence against Hindus. For instance, a video featuring Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhon was misrepresented to show her as a Hindu woman weeping over communal violence. Badhon herself publicly refuted these claims. Such false narratives were widespread, with 36% of the misinformation focusing on this type of distortion.
The investigation also highlighted that 80% of the misleading content involved video footage, much of which was from events prior to August 5. These videos were repurposed to create a narrative of ongoing communal violence in Bangladesh. Additionally, some Indian mainstream media outlets and influential figures were found to be complicit in spreading this misinformation, further exacerbating communal tensions.
The Rumor Scanner noted that this wave of communal misinformation on X is unprecedented in recent years, drawing comparisons to earlier incidents, such as the 2021 communal violence in Cumilla. The abundance of online content related to recent events in Bangladesh provided fertile ground for these misinformation campaigns, with accounts exploiting these developments to gain engagement and spread their agendas.
The report underscores the need for vigilant fact-checking and responsible use of social media, especially in times of political and social unrest.
