How a deleted Facebook video resurfaced to stoke cross-border religious hate on social media

In April 2026, India held its West Bengal state assembly elections in two phases, with the results announced on May 4. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won more than two‑thirds of the seats.

West Bengal shares a border, language, and deep historical ties with Bangladesh, making political developments in the Indian state a frequent subject of debate across the border. According to multiple Indian and international news outlets, several violent incidents were reported in West Bengal after the election results, triggering widespread discussion on social media. In neighboring Bangladesh as well, the BJP’s victory became a major topic of online debate.

Soon after, false claims that Muslims were being persecuted by the BJP in India began circulating from Bangladesh‑based social media accounts. Old videos, AI‑generated images, and fabricated photocards were shared widely, inflaming tensions between Muslim and Hindu users online (1, 2, 3).

It was in this environment that an old, deleted Facebook video carrying communally incendiary content resurfaced. In the clip, a Bangladeshi content creator threatens retaliation against Hindus in Bangladesh if Muslims are persecuted in India.

The video had originally been posted in early April on a Bangladesh‑based Facebook page called Reaction Video, and Facebook removed it within days. However, after the West Bengal election results were announced, a shortened version of the deleted video began circulating again on the same Meta platform.

The resurfaced clip was shared by multiple accounts—some endorsing the threat, others denouncing it—allowing the same content to fuel competing communal narratives. Many users reposted the video with aggressive captions. Facebook’s Community Standards prohibit incitement to violence, credible threats to public safety, and hate speech targeting people on the basis of protected characteristics including religious affiliation. Bangladesh’s Cyber Protection Act also criminalizes such content. Even so, the recirculated versions remained visible on the Meta platform as of May 21, when this report was written. 

This Dismislab investigation examines how a video once removed by Facebook resurfaced and gained traction after the West Bengal election results; who helped spread it; and how the same clip was repeatedly used and reframed in provocative narratives targeting both Hindu and Muslim communities.

The threat revives, with identical posts

On May 5, 2026, a 35‑second video was posted on a Bangladesh‑based Facebook account named “Al Abrar,” and Dismislab came across it two days later. In the video, the speaker threatens that if even one more Muslim is persecuted in India, Hindus in Bangladesh would face retaliation. The speaker also issues threats of forced religious conversion, saying Hindus in Bangladesh would be circumcised, converted to Islam, and forced to recite the Kalima, the Islamic declaration of faith.

“If we have to go to jail, we will go to jail. If we have to die, we will die,” the speaker declares.

By the time this report was written, the video had been shared more than 40 times, received over 500 reactions, and attracted more than 90 comments. A review of the comment section shows that most users appeared to support the explicit threat of violence. One commenter wrote, “If you can match your words with actions, you are welcome. I am with you in this fight.” Another wrote, “If even one Muslim is killed in India, the Hindus of Bangladesh cannot be allowed to live in peace.” Dissenting views or expressions of protest were rare.

Dismislab’s investigation found that at least eight additional Facebook accounts posted the same video with a word‑for‑word identical caption, all on May 5. The caption read: “Plain and simple, if Muslims are killed in India, Hindus will be killed in Bangladesh. Loud and clear.”

Analysis shows that the caption appeared to have originated from the Al Abrar account and was later adopted by the eight other accounts. A review of these accounts showed that they frequently publish similar content, and Dismislab found that several had previously spread communally incendiary misinformation, including content later debunked by fact‑checking organizations (1, 2, 3).

Following the BJP’s victory in West Bengal, these accounts appeared to intensify their campaigns, posting content that targeted India and members of the Hindu community.

Other users shared the video to denounce the remarks and call for legal action. Some described the speaker as a “terrorist” and urged authorities to intervene. One account under the name “M Kiran” reposted the video with the caption, “People like this create communal riots in the country. He should be brought under the law immediately.”

Another user, Dilip Sarkar, posted the video with the caption, “A Muslim youth threatens to attack Hindus in Bangladesh. It is the responsibility of all Hindu organizations in Bangladesh and their leaders to find this person and hand him over to the law. Everyone please share this video.” A third  account, “Himadri Himu,” described the speaker as an extremist and wrote, “It is extremists like these who are pushing the country toward ruin. He must be brought under the law without delay.”

Across the posts, nearly all versions of the video used in the back‑and‑forth communally incendiary campaign featured the same “Hindus News” branding, with identical graphic design and video length, indicating repurposed use of the same clip. In other words, the same content functioned simultaneously as evidence of a threat and as a vehicle for repeating the threat, depending on who shared it and how it was framed.

The “Hindus News” picks it up

Using the “Hindus News” logo visible on the resurfaced clip as a starting point, Dismislab conducted a keyword search and identified a Facebook page named Hindus News, which presents itself as a news outlet. On May 5, the same day the Al Abrar account posted the 35-second threat video, this page also posted the video with the caption: “Muslim man threatens attack on Hindus in Bangladesh.”

At the time of review, the post had been shared more than 1,000 times, received over 7,000 reactions, and attracted more than 4,000 comments. An analysis of the comment section showed that most users denounced the threat of violence.

Although the post by Hindus News did not call for violence, several users reposted the video with aggressive comments. A profile under the name Nishan Das Nar shared the clip with the caption: “This little boy is openly threatening Bangladeshi Hindus. One slap and he’ll fold like rice. Son of a jihadist.” Another account, Sanjoy Sharma, shared the post and wrote: “Listen to what this gentleman is saying. People only dare say such things because of the silence of Hindus.”The post by Hindus News, however, provided no context for the video. It did not identify the speaker in the clip or explain where the footage had originated. To understand how the page obtained the video, Dismislab sent a message to the page. In response, the page provided a link to a separate Facebook post denouncing threats against the Hindu community, but did not offer any information about the video’s original source or context.

Tracing the video source

The video that resurfaced after the West Bengal election results did not originate during the post‑election unrest. Its origins trace back to early April 2026, when a Bangladesh‑based content creator uploaded a video to a Facebook page later identified by Dismislab as Reaction Video. 

According to the page administrator, Facebook removed the original video within a few days of its upload. However, although Meta took down the original video, the content did not disappear entirely. On April 2, 2026, a Facebook account named Rabbil Islam posted an edited, reaction‑style version of the video. This was not the original threat video. Instead, Rabbil appeared on screen while segments of the original threat footage were embedded within the same frame.

By the time this report was written, that post had been shared more than 29,000 times and received over 90,000 reactions. A review of the account’s transparency section showed that it was operated from Murshidabad, a district in the Indian state of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh and known to have a predominantly Muslim population.

When Dismislab conducted keyframe and reverse‑image searches on the Hindus News‑branded clip that later circulated widely, those searches did not return the removed original video. Instead, they repeatedly led back to Rabbil Islam’s edited reaction version, making it the earliest remaining traceable form of the content.

Using keyframes from Rabbil Islam’s edited video, Dismislab continued tracing the footage. Those searches led to other videos featuring the same speaker, published on the Reaction Video Facebook page. A visual comparison confirmed that the speaker appearing in those Reaction Video posts matched the person shown issuing threats in the widely shared Hindus News‑branded clip. The visual match allowed Dismislab to identify Reaction Video as the likely source of the original upload.

Dismislab contacted the administrator of the Reaction Video page, who confirmed that he was the speaker in the threatening video and that Facebook had removed the original post from his page, though he could not provide an exact date.

Despite the removal of the widely circulated threat clip, Dismislab found several other communally incendiary videos still available on the Reaction Video page (1, 2). In one of those videos, the page administrator again framed potential attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh as a response to alleged attacks on Muslims in India, stating that Muslims were being questioned for remaining silent and “protecting Hindus.” 

In that video, pointing to clips on his mobile phone, he claimed those clips showed Hindus attacking Muslims and warned that if such incidents did not stop, “we will also start taking action in Bangladesh.” He then urged what he described as “good Hindu brothers” to protest such incidents and try to stop them.

A review of the Reaction Video page’s transparency section showed that the page was created on December 28, 2024, and that its name had been changed three times. The page administrator confirmed to Dismislab that he lives in a district in southeastern Bangladesh. Dismislab is not disclosing his name and location for safety reasons.

Asked why he posted such content on social media, the administrator said, “I am a very ordinary person. I do not have much formal education. I studied in the Arabic tradition and went through madrasa education. I do not have much schooling in the Bangla or English medium. But whatever I feel is oppression or injustice, I cannot tolerate it.”

He also confirmed that the Reaction Video page is enrolled in Facebook’s monetization program. He said that in several videos he had stated that any income earned from Facebook would be donated to Palestine.

“I gave BDT 5,000,” he said, an amount equivalent to roughly $45. He added that while he had earned around BDT 1,200–1,300 from Facebook, he had donated about BDT 5,000.

Platform policy, national law violated

Meta’s Hateful Conduct policy prohibits attacks or demeaning speech targeting people on the basis of protected characteristics, including religion, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or serious illness. Posts expressing hatred toward followers of Hinduism directly violate that policy.

Meta’s Violence and Incitement policy also prohibits content that threatens violence, could facilitate violence or calls for harm against any individual or group. The videos and captions used to build the “Hindu persecution” narrative amount to a direct call to violence.

Facebook removed the original version of the video in early April. But as of late May, at least two other similarly incendiary videos found on the same page  (1, 2) remain available. The original video also began circulating again from other pages on May 5, framed through a communal violence narrative, and those posts remained visible on Facebook.

Bangladesh’s Cyber Protection Act also treats such conduct as a criminal offense. Under the law, it is an offense if anyone “intentionally or knowingly publishes or causes to be published in cyberspace, whether under their own identity, another’s, or a false identity, any content that constitutes religious or communal hate speech or ethnically incendiary material, and which creates, provokes or incites violence, disorder or criminal activity.” The offense carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to BDT 1,000,000, or both. The amount is roughly $9,000.

Dismislab has previously published reports on communal incitement and violence on social media. Those reports documented how the hashtag #TMD was used on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to spread extreme religious hatred and calls for violence targeting communities in both Bangladesh and India.

According to experts, online incitement can have serious consequences offline. Samina Lutfa, a sociology professor at Dhaka University, said social media now strongly shapes social and political behavior. 

She noted that social media allows unfiltered speech in ways that traditional media and offline social settings do not. This lack of accountability, she warned, enables misinformation and incitement to spread unchecked, encouraging behavior that can translate into real‑world harm.

“Over the past 21 months, we have witnessed numerous incidents across Bangladesh,” she said. “A particularly horrific case occurred recently, when a young Hindu man was beaten, hanged from a tree, and burned to death.”

Methodology

On May 7, a post containing threats of violence against Hindus came to Dismislab’s attention. Using the caption of that post as a keyword, and setting the search window from May 5 to May 11, Dismislab used “Who Posted What,” a social media monitoring tool used by researchers and journalists, to identify posts carrying identical captions.

The search found nine separate accounts that had published posts with word-for-word identical captions. Dismislab then analyzed the upload times, reach, engagement metrics and user reactions across those posts. It also examined the posting patterns, profile names and profile photographs of the accounts.