Pro-Jamaat Figures Lead Election Day Disinformation Campaign

Bangladesh’s 13th parliamentary elections were marred by an unprecedented wave of digital disinformation as political actors flooded social media platforms with false information designed to confuse voters and undermine electoral integrity.

The disinformation campaign intensified dramatically hours before voting began and continued throughout election day. The Daily Star documented 100 separate instances of false information spread across Facebook and Telegram from 8:00pm on February 11 through the close of voting at 4:30pm the following day.

Groups aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami were responsible for approximately 65 percent of the documented disinformation, followed by Awami League-affiliated actors at 21 percent, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters at 7 percent, and National Citizen Party-aligned users accounting for 3 percent.

The tactics employed were sophisticated and varied. Perpetrators circulated fabricated news photocards mimicking legitimate media outlets, distributed AI-generated deepfakes, and resurfaced old content (“zombie content”) to create a false impression of current events. Many false posts were designed to create panic by claiming the election had been cancelled or that candidates had withdrawn.

“This category of disinformation is among the most harmful,” said Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury, who leads fact-checking organization Dismislab. His organization debunked numerous instances of false claims about candidate withdrawals, including photocards fabricated to look like they came from reputable news sources such as Prothom Alo, Inqilab, Jugantor, Amar Desh, and Jamuna Television.

False reports of violence represented another significant category of disinformation. Pro-Jamaat entities distributed at least 43 pieces of disinformation specifically targeting the BNP, primarily accusing them of criminal activity and violence. A common tactic involved sharing old news stories as if they were current events.

For example, a pro-Jamaat Telegram group called Basherkella shared a photo claiming “Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal leaders were arrested with arms by the army in Feni.” Fact-checkers determined the image actually showed an unrelated weapons seizure from September 2024. Similarly, old rape allegations against student political leaders from 2021 and 2025 were recirculated as though they had just occurred.

“Disinformation about violence taking place before the elections is a method of voter suppression, to dissuade voters from showing up,” explained Miraj Ahmed.

Pro-BNP entities employed similar tactics, spreading their own false claims about weapons seizures from Jamaat leaders and fabricated reports of political violence. In one instance, a post falsely claimed a Jubo Dal member had died in an attack by supporters of National Citizen Party leader Abdul Hannan Masud, a report local journalists confirmed was untrue.

Professor Din Md Sumon Rahman, Head of Media Studies and Journalism at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and founder of Factwatch, described such false death reports as “most harmful,” noting that “claims of deaths can seriously harm the quality of the election, especially when candidates themselves are also sharing these posts.”

The campaign also targeted mainstream media outlets. Analysis of 29 Facebook posts from pro-Jamaat entities revealed a coordinated narrative portraying media organizations as biased facilitators of a “media coup” benefiting the BNP. These posts frequently labeled media coverage as “fascism” and gained significant traction when amplified by high-profile social media influencers.

Pro-Awami League accounts primarily spread disinformation alleging ballot stuffing and challenging the election’s legitimacy. Several posts claimed voting had already occurred before polling stations officially opened, with some sharing AI-generated videos purporting to show electoral fraud.

The proliferation of such sophisticated disinformation poses serious challenges to electoral integrity and public trust in democratic processes. As digital tools become more advanced, the ability to create and rapidly spread convincing false information threatens to undermine the factual basis necessary for free and fair elections.

Local fact-checking organizations like Dismislab and Factwatch played a crucial role in countering these narratives, but the volume and sophistication of the disinformation campaign demonstrate the growing challenge facing democratic institutions in Bangladesh and globally.