Disinformation Campaign Threatens Bangladesh Election Amidst AI Surge
DHAKA: As Bangladesh prepares to elect a new government on February 12, a coordinated surge of disinformation, largely originating from neighbouring India, poses a significant threat to the integrity of the electoral process. Analysts warn that voters’ choices may be unduly influenced by a deluge of false content, including sophisticated AI-generated imagery.
The Muslim-majority nation, home to approximately 170 million people, is heading into its first election since a student-led uprising in 2024 led to the toppling of Sheikh Hasina. Hasina subsequently fled to India, where she has been hosted by the Hindu-nationalist government. The scale of online manipulation has become so severe that authorities have established a dedicated unit to combat the spread of false information.
Muhammad Yunus, an interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, highlighted the severity of the situation in January. He described a “flood of misinformation surrounding the elections” and sought assistance from UN rights chief Volker Turk. Yunus noted that the misinformation emanates from both foreign media and local sources.
A significant portion of this disinformation campaign centres on unsubstantiated claims of attacks against Bangladesh’s minority communities, which constitute about 10 percent of the population, predominantly Hindu. The hashtag “#Hindu genocide” has been widely used to propagate these allegations online. However, police figures released in January indicate a different reality. Of the 645 incidents involving members of minority groups in 2025, only 12 percent were classified as having a sectarian motive.
Coordinated Indian Disinformation Network Uncovered
A report by the US-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate has identified a substantial disinformation network. The think tank tracked over 700,000 posts generated by more than 170,000 accounts on X (formerly Twitter) between August 2024 and January 2026, all alleging a “Hindu genocide” in Bangladesh.
Raqib Naik, head of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, stated, “We have tracked coordinated Indian disinformation online, falsely alleging large-scale violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.” Naik further elaborated that “More than 90 percent of this content originated from India, with the remainder linked to associated Hindu nationalist networks in the UK, US, and Canada.”
AFP Fact Check has debunked several examples of this deceptive content, some of which were shared tens of thousands of times. These include:
- An AI-generated video depicting a woman who claimed to have lost an arm, urging people not to vote for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is considered a frontrunner in the election.
- A computer-generated video featuring a Hindu woman alleging that individuals of the same faith were instructed to vote for Jamaat-e-Islami, a key Islamist party, or face exile to India.
AFP Fact Check teams have documented hundreds of AI-generated videos on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. A concerning observation is that few of these videos carry AI disclaimers, making it difficult for viewers to discern their authenticity.
This surge in fake news follows years of political repression under Sheikh Hasina’s previous tenure, during which opposition voices were largely silenced. Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury, head of the Dhaka-based research organisation Digitally Right, observed a significant increase in fake information compared to previous elections. He attributes this to the accessibility of free AI tools that facilitate the creation of sophisticated fabricated content.
Another AI-generated video purportedly shows Bangladeshis praising Sheikh Hasina, who is now a fugitive and has been sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.
The issue has also spilled over into international sports. In India, social media outrage from Hindu fundamentalists directed at a Bangladeshi cricket player in India’s domestic IPL league led to his club terminating his contract. This controversy escalated to the point where Bangladesh’s national team withdrew from the T20 World Cup held in India.
While analysts point to India as the primary source of much of this disinformation, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that the large-scale media posts are directly organised by the Indian government. New Delhi’s foreign ministry has acknowledged a “disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities” by “extremists in Bangladesh” but has also consistently affirmed its commitment to “free, fair, inclusive and credible elections.”
Tackling a Growing Digital Threat
The Bangladesh Election Commission is actively working to combat the spread of false information. Md. Ruhul Amin Mallik, a spokesman for the commission, stated that they are collaborating with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and have established a dedicated unit to monitor social media content. However, he acknowledges that managing the sheer volume of online information is an ongoing challenge.
“If our team detects any content as harmful and misleading, we instantly announce it as fake information,” Mallik explained.
Election expert Jasmine Tuli, a former election commission official, highlights the unique risks posed by AI-generated images in Bangladesh. With over 80 percent of urban households and nearly 70 percent of rural areas having access to at least one smartphone, according to government statistics, a significant portion of the population is relatively new to advanced digital technologies.
“It is a big threat for a country like Bangladesh, since people don’t have much awareness to check the information,” Tuli warned. “Due to AI-generated fake visuals, voters get misguided in their decision.”
