After the July uprising, Bangladesh has been facing a major problem with the spread of rumours and misinformation. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus had earlier warned that rumors are now being used like weapons to destabilize the country, and recent trends prove how serious this issue has become. According to Rumor Scanner, a well-known fact-checking organization, misinformation rose by 58 percent in 2024 compared to 2023. In 2025, the situation is still alarming. In the last three months, they identified 268 false or misleading posts in February, 298 in March, and 296 in April.
Like previous months, April’s rumors mostly targeted national and political topics. Out of all detected cases, 101 were related to national matters, and 95 were political. Religious, international, and communal issues were also included. Particularly concerning were 16 communal rumors, some of which came from Indian accounts, showing that disinformation is not only coming from within Bangladesh but also from beyond the border.
Social media continues to be the biggest platform for spreading fake news. Facebook alone had 276 such cases in April, followed by YouTube 54, Instagram 48, X handle (formerly Twitter) 44, and TikTok 24. Even 15 false stories were spread by mainstream media, which is supposed to be a reliable source of information.
A major target of these campaigns has been high-level political and government figures. Chief Adviser Yunus himself was the subject of 29 false posts. Other advisers like Asif Nazrul and Syeda Rizwana Hasan were also targeted. Political parties such as BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizens Party (NCP) were also affected. These attacks seem to follow what Prof. Yunus described as attempts by the “defeated side” to weaken public trust in national institutions.
Rumor Scanner also revealed that 138 cases were text-based, 105 were videos, and 53 used images. Of them, 179 were completely false, 66 were misleading, and 48 were distorted.
With the national election coming soon, there is a real danger that the rumor problem will grow even worse. It is very important now for the government, media, and public to work together. Along with strict monitoring, we must improve digital literacy across all groups so that people can learn how to detect false information and rely only on trustworthy sources. Only then can we protect our society from this growing threat.
