Debunked video resurfaces as ads on Meta platforms
On September 11, Dismislab published a fact-check report on a video shared on Facebook with false claims. Later, multiple fact-checking organizations in the country also reported that the same video was being circulated with fabricated claims. About a week later, that same video was still being promoted as an advertisement across different Meta platforms, carrying the same false claim. Meta policy prohibits the use of content identified as false by third-party fact-checkers in advertisements. In this case, however, the fact-checked video has been running as an advertisement for nearly three days.
Since September 21, a page named “Hindus of Bangladesh” has been running the video as an ad containing the false claim. At the time of writing this report, the ad was still active. Its caption states: “On the way back home in Gazipur, a father was tied up with rope and his daughter was gang-raped. It is noteworthy that the victims are members of the Hindu community.” In addition, the words #News and #Awareness have been added as hashtags.
The video, edited with text in English, reads: “Father tied up, Hindu girl gang-raped.” The footage shows a woman sitting on the roadside, crying. Members of law enforcement standing nearby are heard asking her name, her father’s name, where her home is, and with whom she came.
Dismislab published a fact-check report on the video on September 11. Verifications found that the incident did not take place in Gazipur but in Taraganj, Rangpur. There was no question of any woman being subjected to gang rape. Citing reports from news outlets, the Dismislab report stated that the video was from an incident a month earlier in Taraganj, Rangpur, where two men suspected of theft were beaten to death.
At the same time, two other fact-checking organizations, Rumor Scanner and Fact-Watch, also published reports on the incident. Among them, Fact-Watch is a third-party fact-checking partner of Meta, which identifies content spread with false claims on Meta platforms. In this case as well, they flagged the Facebook posts as misleading.
In its report, Fact-Watch stated in detail that the posts claiming a woman was gang-raped on her way to visit a relative’s house in Gazipur were “misleading.”
Citing news reports, Fact-Watch stated that on August 9, 2024, two men were beaten to death on suspicion of stealing a van in Taraganj upazila of Rangpur. Nupur Das, daughter of Ruplal Das of Shyampur in Mithapukur, was set to be married, and on Sunday, a relative named Pradip Das set out by van to finalize the arrangements. Unfamiliar with the route, he called Ruplal, and the two then traveled together in the van. Around 9 p.m., when they reached Bottola on the Taraganj-Kazirhat road, local residents detained them on suspicion of van theft, beat them and left them at the Burirhat High School grounds. Police rescued them and took them to the hospital, where Ruplal Das was declared dead. Pradip Das was admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, where he died the following morning.
Although the victims were members of the Hindu community, no rape occurred, nor did the incident take place in Gazipur. Instead, a video from a separate event is being circulated with the false claim of gang-rape.
To be eligible for running as advertisements on Meta platforms, fact-checked content must comply with Meta’s Community Standards on misinformation. In its detailed policy, Meta states: “advertisers can’t run ads that include content debunked by third-party fact checkers or that violates our Community Standards.”
Meta further explains fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, “After a fact-checker rates a piece of content as False, Altered or Partly False, it will receive reduced distribution on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. For this content, as well as content fact-checkers rate Missing Context, it will be filtered from recommendations and content that Meta suggests. This significantly reduces the number of people who see it.” Meta also states that they reject ads with content that has been rated by fact-checkers.
Although these policies are in place, the debunked video is still being promoted as advertisements across four of Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger. The ad was run from a page named “Hindus of Bangladesh,” which was created on June 21 of this year. The contact address listed is a location in Dhaka. However, upon checking the page’s administration details, it was found that the page is managed by four individuals, all of whom are based in India.
