Bangladesh Election 2026: Disinformation Campaigns Surge as Voters Head to Polls

As Bangladesh headed to the polls for its 13th parliamentary election, a tsunami of misinformation flooded social media platforms in the final hours before voting began, according to multiple fact-checking organizations monitoring the situation.

Various political actors, seemingly affiliated with the Awami League, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), orchestrated coordinated disinformation campaigns across Facebook and Telegram. Their apparent goals: to undermine election legitimacy, suppress voter turnout, erode trust in mainstream media, and confuse voters just as polling stations prepared to open.

The scope of the disinformation was substantial. Fact-checking organization Dismislab debunked 30 pieces of false information before voting commenced, while Rumor Scanner identified 27 instances of misinformation in the twelve hours preceding the election. FactWatch published 10 comprehensive reports countering fake news as polling centers opened. The Daily Star documented 24 separate pieces of disinformation circulating between 8 p.m. the previous evening and dawn on election day.

Pro-Awami League entities spread allegations of ballot-stuffing and election fraud hours before official voting began. One Facebook reel posted at 3:16 a.m. falsely claimed votes had already been cast at a Gazipur-2 polling center, sharing an old video of ballot counting that received nearly 900 shares. Similarly, the pro-AL Telegram group Area71 alleged that “Voting has started” at a Dhaka-6 center in the old town area at 8 p.m. the night before polls opened—a claim directly refuted by local police.

Sutrapur Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (Investigation) Mohaimen clarified to The Daily Star that what had been misrepresented as ballot stuffing was actually a presiding officer distributing identification cards to polling agents.

Jamaat-aligned social media accounts primarily targeted the BNP, accusing them of violence and criminal activity. One common tactic involved “zombie content”—resurrecting years-old news and presenting it as current events. Multiple pro-Jamaat entities circulated rape allegations from 2021 against Chhatra Dal leaders, falsely presenting them as having occurred “today” or “yesterday.”

Miraj Ahmed, who leads Dismislab, noted that spreading misinformation about pre-election violence serves as a voter suppression tactic, discouraging citizens from visiting polling stations.

The weaponization of deepfake technology also featured prominently. An AI-generated video circulated on Facebook showed what appeared to be a rally of indigenous people, falsely claiming that various ethnic minority groups had formed an alliance to vote for a specific candidate.

The BNP responded with counter-narratives, circulating videos alleging weapons recoveries from Jamaat leaders’ vehicles. In one particularly harmful instance, a pro-BNP page claimed at 1:27 a.m. that a Jubo Dal leader named Dilal had died following an attack by “Jamaat-Shibir terrorist forces.” The Daily Star’s local correspondent confirmed that while a scuffle had occurred in Hatiya, no casualties were reported, and army personnel had intervened to stop the violence.

Professor Din Md Sumon Rahman, Head of Media Studies and Journalism at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and FactWatch founder, called false death claims “most harmful” to election integrity, especially when shared by candidates themselves.

Perhaps most concerning were attempts to claim the election itself had been canceled or that candidates had withdrawn. A Facebook page called InfoBangla falsely claimed at 12:20 a.m. that the parliamentary election would not take place as scheduled. Meanwhile, fabricated “photocards” mimicking established Bangladeshi news outlets like Prothom Alo and Jamuna TV falsely announced candidate withdrawals in specific constituencies.

FactWatch debunked claims that two major candidates for the Barguna-2 seat—Nurul Islam Moni (BNP) and Dr. Sultan Ahmed (Jamaat-e-Islami)—had withdrawn at the last minute. Both candidates subsequently confirmed they remained in the race, with Moni releasing a video urging supporters to ignore rumors and vote.

The disinformation campaign represents a sophisticated attempt to undermine Bangladesh’s electoral process through digital manipulation, highlighting growing concerns about social media’s influence on democratic institutions in the region.