In March of this year, the Bangladesh-based fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner identified 298 instances of misinformation that had spread across the internet.
This follows 271 cases in January and 268 in February, as recorded by the organization. Among the misinformation detected in March, political content accounted for the largest share with 105 cases, constituting 35% of the total misinformation.
Other categories included 103 cases related to national affairs, 12 to international affairs, 36 to religious matters, 3 to entertainment and literature, 3 to education, 12 to fraud-related misinformation and 16 to sports.
The majority of the misinformation detected was video-based, totaling 143 cases, followed by 110 text-based misinformation and 45 image-based misinformation.
In terms of content classification, Rumor Scanner identified 168 instances as false, 97 as misleading and 31 as distorted.
Among social media platforms, Facebook had the highest number of misinformation cases with 273 instances, followed by X (formerly Twitter) with 62, TikTok with 7, YouTube with 44, Instagram with 26 and Threads with at least 5 cases.
Additionally, 16 instances of misinformation were identified in mainstream Bangladeshi media outlets.
Since last year, an increasing number of misinformation campaigns have originated from Indian media outlets and social media accounts targeting Bangladesh.
In March, the trend continued, with four instances of misinformation about Bangladesh identified in Indian media outlets and three instances propagated by Indian social media accounts and pages.
Additionally, 26 cases of communal misinformation were detected, half of which were traced back to Indian social media accounts and pages.
In March, 15 instances of misinformation were directed at the current interim government.
Rumor Scanner categorized these based on their nature and found that all of these instances were negative, spreading misinformation against the government.
Furthermore, 22 cases of misinformation were related to the chief adviser of the interim government, Dr Muhammad Yunus, with 77% of these cases containing misinformation against him and 23% in his favor.
Other advisers of the interim government were also targeted by misinformation, including Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain with 2 cases (both negative), Syeda Rizwana Hasan with 1 case (negative), Dr Asif Nazrul with 4 cases (all negative), Dr Salehuddin Ahmed with 2 cases (both negative), Md Touhid Hossain with 1 case (negative) and Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Shafiqul Alam with 1 case (negative).
Rumor Scanner’s analysis found that political parties were a frequent target of misinformation in March.
Jamaat-e-Islami was mentioned in 7 instances, with 86% of them being negative.
Its leader Dr Shafiqur Rahman was falsely mentioned in 2 cases (both negative) and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, was targeted in 6 cases (all negative).
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was involved in 4 instances, with 75% being negative.
BNP’s acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, was mentioned in 1 case (positive), while its Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, was the subject of 2 cases (both positive).
The BNP’s student wing, Chhatra Dal, was falsely mentioned in 4 cases (all negative).
The Awami League was involved in 6 cases, with 83% of them being positive.
Its student wing, Chhatra League, was targeted in 1 case (positive).
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was the subject of 33 cases, with 85% being positive.
A newly formed political group, the National Citizens’ Party, which emerged following the July uprising, was targeted in 2 cases (both negative).
Its convener, Nahid Islam, was mentioned in 4 cases (all negative), while other leaders of the party, including Hasnat Abdullah with 6 cases (all negative), Sarjis Alam with 3 cases (all negative), Tasnim Jara with 4 cases (all negative), Humayra Nur with 1 case (negative), and Abdul Hannan Masud with 1 case (negative), were also subjects of misinformation.
Government institutions were not spared either. Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, was falsely mentioned in 7 cases, while the Army as a whole was linked to 23 misinformation cases.
Bangladesh Police was the subject of 3 cases, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were each mentioned in 1 case.
A former activist group, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, which played a leading role during the quota reform protests, was falsely targeted in 3 cases in February.
Its spokesperson, Umama Fatema, was the subject of 1 misinformation case.
Other misinformation trends identified by Rumor Scanner included 17 false death rumors involving well-known individuals.
Nine AI-generated fake content cases were detected and five deepfake videos were identified.
Twenty-seven misinformation cases related to rape incidents were recorded, particularly following the alleged rape of an eight-year-old child in Magura, which alone generated 8 false claims.
Misinformation related to Ramadan and Eid was also detected, with 16 and 6 cases respectively.
Fake news outlets, fabricated media logos and counterfeit reports were used to spread 45 instances of misinformation across 38 incidents, falsely implicating 39 local and international media organizations.
Jamuna TV was the most frequently misused name, appearing in 10 cases, followed by Janakantha with 5 and Amar Desh with 4.
The escalating spread of misinformation across political, religious and national domains highlights the critical need for vigilant fact-checking and media literacy.
Rumor Scanner’s findings indicate that misinformation is being increasingly weaponized to manipulate public perception, influence political narratives, and sow discord.
