Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has taken down numerous accounts and pages linked to Bangladesh’s ruling party, Awami League, for "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" ahead of the January elections.
The removals were announced on Thursday as Facebook disclosed that it removed "50 accounts and 98 pages for violating our policy against coordinated inauthentic behaviour."
These accounts were found to have engaged in activities such as pretending to be opposition supporters while posting content critical of the political opposition.
The Awami League condemned Facebook's decision, accusing the social media platform of “failing to stop the circulation of hate speech and instigation for communal violence for years in Bangladesh.”
In its Adversarial Threat Report for the first quarter of 2024, Meta said it had conducted an internal investigation into suspicious amplification activities in the region.
The report revealed that some of the removed pages posed as fictitious news entities, and others used the names of existing news organizations in Bangladesh.
A few pages also used the name of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) while posting anti-BNP content.
"Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the Awami League party and Centre for Research and Information (CRI), a non-profit in Bangladesh," the report added.
Meta's findings indicated that about 3.4 million Facebook accounts followed one or more of these pages.
The network primarily posted in Bangla and occasionally in English, focusing on news and current events in Bangladesh.
The content included criticism of the BNP, allegations of BNP's corruption, its role in pre-election violence, and supportive commentary about the incumbent government and its technological advancements.
Awami League Office Secretary Biplob Barua criticized the report, saying: "This is a politically biased report. The political identity of those through whom Facebook conducted its investigation or collected information should be examined. I did not expect this from an organization like Facebook."
He also pointed out that the report did not address accounts and pages abroad where misinformation is spread against Bangladesh or senior Awami League leaders, including the prime minister. He mentioned that Facebook did not disclose any actions taken against these foreign entities.
Referring to “a series of failures on the part of Facebook authorities to comply with guidelines in different parts across the globe,” Tonmoy Ahmed, coordinator of the Awami League web team and CRI, came up with a clarification about “Meta’s failure to contain the unbridled flow of disinformation against Awami League and the leadership on the same platform.”
Citing hundreds of links, available on Facebook, rife with disinformation against the Awami League leadership including the prime minister and her family members, he said in his Twitter account: “No action has been taken against these pages and accounts while Meta should look into the survey even conducted by the IRI-NDI survey on Bangladesh polls that showed bullying against Sheikh Hasina and Awami League leaders.”
With an open call to look at contents to find out any source of disinformation, Tonmoy raised the question that “the authorities can enquire why the barrage of disinformation by has gone completely missing and why did this third party end up echoing the tone of a political party instead of any objective view.”
Prof Mizanur Rahman, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, claimed that “Facebook has failed for decades to curb the spread of incitement and hate speech in Bangladesh, allowing the BNP and Jamaat to use the platform unhindered to fuel communal attacks.”
“But by ignoring these facts, Meta’s recent action appear to be politically motivated and lack objectivity and fairness,” Mizan added.
“BNP social media accounts were quick to share this report, which makes Facebook's bias clearly evident.”
