Disinformation, misinformation, and structured social media propaganda have posed significant challenges for Dr. Muhammad Yunus’ interim government in Bangladesh, especially as the opposition, particularly the Awami League (AL), strategically uses social media to destabilize the government.
Social media played a significant role in the movement opposing Hasina’s regime during the Monsoon Revolution. Despite having 100,000 AL activists to manage online narratives, Hasina’s regime failed to counter public opposition, which used logic, memes, and irony to challenge the government’s propaganda in cyberspace.
On August 3, the chief coordinator of the Monsoon Revolution, Nahid Islam (now an adviser to the Yunus government), announced a one-point demand for Hasina’s resignation. On that night the Chhatra League, the AL’s student wing, posted old videos on social media, falsely claiming they had taken control of Dhaka city, particularly Dhaka University, and that all coordinators had fled the country. However, journalists and youth activists conducted Facebook live broadcasts, and posted photos showing that the Chhatra League had no presence at Dhaka University. Later, this incident became a source of memes in contemporary social media discussions in Bangladesh.
After Hasina was ousted and the Yunus government was sworn in, a structural propaganda campaign against the new administration began to emerge, particularly from Indian sources. Some Indian media outlets spread disinformation, and social media pages propagated false narratives regarding attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. Mashrafe Bin Mortuza, the captain of the Bangladesh men’s cricket team and a member of parliament during the controversial 2018 and 2024 elections, had his house burned after Hasina’s departure. However, some Indian media falsely reported that it was the house of Liton Das, another popular cricketer from the Bangladesh men’s cricket team and a member of the Hindu community.
Amid the wave of disinformation about minority attacks in Bangladesh, ensuring the safe celebration of Durga Puja, the country’s largest Hindu festival, became a crucial test for the Yunus government. Although the Puja celebrations concluded without major violence, at least 14 social media rumors were spread between October 6 and 12 relating to the Puja festival. According to the voluntary fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner, all the rumors were based on old videos, edited photos, and some photos of incidents in India, falsely presented as occurring in Bangladesh.
In the aftermath of the Puja, another piece of propaganda spread on social media. On October 12, two female college students died after consuming toxic alcohol in Faridpur, a town near Dhaka. Both students were Hindu and had been celebrating Dussehra (the last day of Durga Puja). However, on social media, the rumor was falsely spread that the two Hindu girls were brutally murdered while returning home after the Vijay Dashami celebrations in Bangladesh, further fueling communal tensions.
The disinformation campaigns were not limited to minority issues or the events in August. They continued to manipulate several other issues in Bangladesh, including direct attempts to undermine the Yunus government. After Hasina’s ouster, the Awami League’s social media team attempted a comeback in cyberspace. On October 9 at midnight, an old video showing a crowd gathered was posted on social media, falsely captioned as a protest outside Yunus’ residence, demanding his resignation. Rumors even circulated about a confrontation between Yunus and the army chief. Although Yunus’ assistant press secretary, Apurbo Jahangir, refuted these claims via a Facebook post, it did little to quell the online rumors. The debate raged throughout the night, with some users posting live videos from outside Yunus’s residence to expose the truth.
Sajeeb Wazed, the son of Sheikh Hasina and an advisor to her administration, played a key role in orchestrating social media propaganda against the Yunus government. On the night of August 28, Sarah Rahanuma, a 32-year-old newsroom editor at Gazi TV, was found dead in Dhaka. Her husband ruled her death a suicide, but Wazed falsely framed it on his Facebook post as a politically motivated murder, claiming it was “another brutal attack on freedom of expression in Bangladesh.” This further fueled misinformation on social media and Indian news outlets.
Wazed added that Gazi TV was a secular news channel owned by Golam Dastagir Gazi, who was recently arrested. Wazed misrepresented the arrest of Gazi, suggesting it was due to his ownership of a secular news channel, rather than the actual legal charges against him.
Mahfuj Alam, the special assistant to Yunus and a key visionary behind the Monsoon Revolution, has become a target of propaganda orchestrated by the AL and India-based social media networks. Alam was first targeted on social media with claims labeling him as the son of Md. Selim, a leader of Bangladesh’s Hezbut Tawheed and a former Shibir leader. A prominent fact-checker, Dismislab, quickly dismissed this social media claim as false.
Within a day of these allegations, social media posts began portraying Alam as a leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The press wing of the chief adviser explicitly denied the claims. However, these unfounded claims were spread across social media by AL leaders and later amplified by segments of the Indian mainstream media. The Economic Times published a report titled “Jamaat’s Attempts to Repair Ties with India Met with Skepticism,” which alleged Mahfuj’s association with Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Voluntary fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner clarified the issue, identifying a man named Abdullah Al Mahfuz as the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir member. The report emphasized that Abdullah Al Mahfuz and Mahfuj Alam are entirely different individuals with a significant age difference.
Despite these clarifications, the propaganda against Alam persisted. In reality, Alam advocates for an inclusive Bangladesh and seeks a political framework grounded in dignity, responsibility, and compassion. He shared his political thoughts and vision in an interview with The Diplomat.
These are just a few examples of the torrent of rumors spreading on social media regarding sensitive topics such as minority issues, murders, and calls for the resignation of the Yunus government. Sometimes, these rumors are spread on social media using edited images that resemble those from popular mainstream TV channels, which people tend to trust. This isn’t just about the spread of propaganda or disinformation; it’s a tactic for sowing chaos. In January 2024, there were 52.90 million social media users in Bangladesh, which is 30.4 percent of the total population, and Facebook is particularly popular. However, not everyone possesses the necessary digital literacy, allowing political parties to exploit this vulnerability. For instance, in 2012, a communal attack in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar, was triggered by an edited photo circulating on social media that accused someone of insulting Islam.
In recent years the AL’s cyber team has increasingly leveraged social media platforms to incite communal tensions in Bangladesh. During incidents such as the recent arrest of an ISKON leader and the murder of a government lawyer, popular Facebook pages controlled by AL affiliates spread disinformation and propaganda aimed at inciting riots.
The Yunus government, distinct from a conventional political administration, operates as a post-revolution government. Without a robust political force to back it, this government relies on a fragile and less cohesive national unity that is still under discussion.
Thus the rampant spread of rumors and disinformation on social media, compounded by misleading narratives from Indian media outlets, poses significant challenges to the Yunus administration. In Dhaka, the political atmosphere has been described as “rumor night” in cyberspace, where disinformation thrives during this volatile period.
Despite public efforts to counter many of these rumors, the threat of chaos remains high due to the structural propaganda perpetuated on social media. As Bangladesh navigates this uncertain period, the Yunus government faces the daunting task of maintaining stability in the face of relentless disinformation campaigns.