Night of rumours: How misinformation spread before Bangladesh’s landmark election
On the eve of Bangladesh’s 13th national election, social media was flooded with misleading content, false claims, recycled videos, and fake photocards, targeting candidates and voters.
Shafiqur Rahman, who heads the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, described the night as “Lailatul Gujob” — or the “night of rumors” — as unverified claims saturated the virtual sphere.
Fact-checkers said many of the posts used old or manipulated videos, while others used fake photocards designed to imitate well-known local newspapers and television channels to appear credible. They reported a steady stream of false content before voting, including claims of attacks on polling stations, recovery of weapons, and candidates being shot.
A major theme was false reports of candidates withdrawing in favor of rivals, often spread by verified Facebook pages. Some candidates had to issue public denials or appear live online to counter these rumors.
In the Chattogram-8 constituency, Jamaat backed its alliance partner, the National Citizen Party (NCP), but its candidate, Dr Abu Naser, had failed to withdraw his nomination. Social media posts claimed that NCP’s Jubairul Hasan Arif had pulled out in support of Naser. Arif later held a press conference to deny the claim and confirm his candidacy.
Such claims of withdrawal also spread in some constituencies in Narayanganj, Noakhali, and Jamalpur. In many cases, contradictory claims spread, leaving voters baffled.
An Artificial Intelligence-generated video was used to falsely claim that Narayanganj-2 independent candidate Ataur Rahman Khan Angur has stepped aside in support of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)’s Nazrul Islam Azad. However, several Facebook videos showed Ataur rejecting the claims. After a while, a post from a Facebook group claimed that Azad withdrew from the election in support of Ataur.
Facebook posts also claimed that independent candidate Kazi Mohammad Mofizur Rahman had withdrawn in support of NCP candidate Sultan Mohammad Zakaria in Noakhali-2. However, Mofizur went live on Facebook from his verified profile and urged people not to be misled by rumors.
A similar rumor spread in Noakhali-1 that Islami Andolan’s Zahirul Islam had stepped aside in support of Jamaat’s Md Saif Ullah. From his verified Facebook page, Zahirul rejected the claim, and urged people to “resist the propaganda of clandestine forces”.
People were left confused and perplexed when an old video resurfaced, showing Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar soliciting votes for the BNP, falsely claiming he had resigned from his party. A fact-check found the video was from the 11th national election when Jamaat and the BNP contested as allies.
Two photocards mimicking the Daily Jugantor and Daily Amar Desh claimed that Jamaat’s Barguna-2 candidate, Sultan Ahmed, had withdrawn from the election. News of withdrawals was also reported for Islami Andolan candidate Daulatuzzaman Ansari from Jamalpur-3 and BNP’s Reza Kibria from Habiganj-1.
A photocard featuring the Daily Jugantor logo, claiming that NCP Convener Nahid Islam had announced breaking away from the Jamaat-led alliance, went viral.
Fact-checkers confirmed that the graphics were fake and no such reports had been published.
False claims and allegations dominated social media. For example, a Jamaat leader was detained for illegally entering a polling station in Bogura, but a video of that incident was circulated claiming that the BNP was trying to occupy a polling station.
Another widely spread claim was that Jamaat was stuffing ballots at the Dhankunda School polling station in Siddhirganj’s Ward No. 8 in Narayanganj-3 constituency. Siddhirganj’s Assistant Returning Officer Shahina Islam Chowdhury rejected the claim.
Meanwhile, contradictory claims of election irregularities involving the BNP and Jamaat at Old Dhaka’s Jubilee School and College center spread. On one hand, it was claimed that the BNP candidate’s supporters were facing the music for attempting to stuff ballot boxes at night. On the other hand, another group claimed that activists of Jamaat and Shibir were engaged in election irregularities at the center.
The Independent TV ran a report headlined “Jamaat accused of attempting to capture polling station in the capital”, while its Facebook reel was captioned, “Jamaat activists attempt to seize Jubilee School center.” Meanwhile, a Daily Times of Bangladesh report claimed that the presiding officer and five Jamaat activists were injured in an alleged attack by BNP activists at the Jubilee center.
Supporters of the Awami League, which was barred from the election, were actively spreading misinformation. A Facebook user, claiming to be the organizing secretary of Chhatra League’s Rajshahi Metropolitan unit, shared a two-year-old video claiming that it showed vote rigging at Chakaria Primary School at midnight.
The Bangladesh Army was also targeted. A post shared at least 200 times falsely claimed that army soldiers had confined senior military officers, including three lieutenant generals, 23 major generals, and 11 colonels, and that a “mutiny was imminent.”
Additional misinformation included occupying polling centers, stamping ballots in advance, and signing the result sheet. False claims about nighttime voting in Gazipur-2 and the arrest of NCP candidate Nasiruddin Patwari were also spread.
Fact-checkers analysing the misinformation circulating on the eve of the election found that supporters of nearly all major political parties were involved in spreading false claims.
