Religious Misinformation in 2024
How it became more vicious, more targeted, and more divisive
Religious misinformation in Bangladesh has evolved alongside the country’s shifting political landscape, becoming increasingly localized and divisive. Early in the year, narratives focused on broad themes of religious glorification and miraculous claims. By August, following the political transition, the focus shifted sharply to communal tensions and hostility. During this period, communal conflict-related misinformation rose nearly fivefold, and religious hatred more than doubled compared to the preceding seven months.
This transformation was not only thematic but also geographic. From August to November, Bangladesh became the near-exclusive focus of religious misinformation, accounting for over 92% of all debunked cases. These patterns, drawn from hundreds of fact-checking reports, reflect how religious misinformation is adapting to a politically charged environment, deepening social divisions and fueling discord.
Between January and November, Dismislab analyzed 313 distinct fact-check reports on religious issues published by eight fact-checking organizations covering Bangladesh. When multiple platforms reported the same issue, only one report was counted to ensure clarity. The analysis shows that more than half of this misinformation appeared in just the final four months of the period, marking a sharp uptick as the year progressed.
Misinformation during this period revolved around two key themes: portraying Bangladesh as a radical Islamist nation unsafe for minorities, largely driven by Indian news outlets and social media users, and spreading hatred against Hindu communities and organizations, primarily originating from Bangladesh and intensifying in November as a reaction to the former.
Shifting patterns
Religion has long been a key theme for misinformation in Bangladesh. While Dismislab’s quarterly trend analysis in October noted a rise in such content, much of it was eclipsed by the sharp rise in political misinformation. However, a deeper look at the 11-month data reveals: of the 313 religious misinformation analysed, 51% surfaced in just four months, between August and November.
Dismislab’s analysis categorized fact-check reports on religious misinformation into nine themes: miracles, religious glorification, conversions, religious instructions, interfaith harmony, disrespecting beliefs, religious hatred, communal conflict, and others. To track how these narratives evolved, Dismislab divided the misinformation into two periods: pre-revolution (January to July) and post-revolution (August to November).
The data shows, in the first seven months, such misinformation focused heavily on religious glorification (33%), conversion from one religion to another (9%), and miracles (6%). Claims ranged from sightings of angels on the Kaaba to prominent figures converting religions. During this time, misinformation related to religious hatred or communal conflict accounted for less than 10%.
After August, following the resignation of the Awami League government, which had been in power for 15 years, the tone shifted. Misinformation on religious glorification, conversions, and miracles dropped, while narratives around communal conflict and religious hatred surged to 43% and 21%, respectively. In simpler terms, communal conflict-related misinformation rose nearly fivefold, and religious hatred narratives more than doubled in the four months following the transition compared to the preceding seven months.
How narratives became increasingly vicious
During the post-revolution period, religious misinformation centered on two key themes. The first portrayed Bangladesh as an increasingly radical and intolerant Islamist nation where minorities were unsafe, a narrative largely driven by various Indian news outlets and social media users. The second spread hatred against Hindu communities and related organizations, with most of such content originating from Bangladeshi social media pages and users. Together, these narratives only deepened the polarization and escalated tensions.
In August, Indian news websites and social media platforms were awash with claims of rising violence against minorities and the spread of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh. Many of these claims relied on recycled or doctored images and videos, repurposed as evidence of attacks on Hindu communities. One particularly egregious post falsely alleged that the Bangladeshi army had killed 27,000 Hindus in just three months.
Rumor Scanner, a Bangladeshi organization, examined 50 misleading posts on X (formerly Twitter) shared between August 5 and 13. Their analysis found that 72 percent of the accounts spreading these falsehoods were based in India. Alongside these narratives, misinformation also targeted three student leaders in Bangladesh’s interim government, accusing them of ties to banned militant organizations (1, 2). An apparent intent was to paint the interim government as complicit in promoting Islamic fundamentalism.
Since August, the rise in misinformation about communal conflicts has been paralleled by an increase in content inciting religious hatred. False claims included allegations that an anti-discrimination student leader had issued an ultimatum for Hindus to leave the country or that Palestinian flag-carrying protesters had threatened to kill Hindus. Other posts claimed that Jamaat-e-Islami was kidnapping individuals who refused to join the party or that Hindu children were forced to remove religious amulets in exchange for flood relief.
In October, misinformation spiked around the Hindu festival of Durga Puja. False claims suggested that Islamic verses were broadcast at puja venues or that Muslims had disrupted the festivities.
In November, tensions escalated further with incidents involving ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), an organization active in Bangladesh and globally. In Chattogram, an anti-ISKCON Facebook post sparked violent clashes, leaving several police and military personnel injured. Shortly after, Chinmoy Krishna Das, spokesperson for the Sanatani Jagaran Jote, a Hindu advocacy group, was arrested on sedition charges. His arrest and subsequent bail denial led to further violence between his supporters and law enforcement.
The events became fodder for a new wave of misinformation. Fabricated quotes attributed to Das circulated widely, along with claims that ISKCON temples were stockpiling weapons. Other narratives falsely accused ISKCON of receiving financial backing from a Bangladeshi supermarket chain and transport company. One hoax press release claimed that “Bangladesh’s opposition party, BNP, had called for the organization to be banned”, while another falsely labeled ISKCON as a militant group.
Counter-narratives, largely from Indian media outlets and Twitter accounts, added to the confusion. For example, one narrative falsely claimed that Das’s lawyer—though he was not—had been killed during a protest, when in reality, he was attacked by Das’s own supporters. Another repurposed footage from an anti-ISKCON rally, misrepresenting it as a demonstration demanding the resignation of Dr. Yunus, the interim government’s chief.
Bangladesh takes center stage
Religious misinformation this year didn’t just evolve in narrative but also in geographic scope. What began the year as a globally scattered phenomenon had, by its end, turned sharply inward, mirroring the political and social shifts within Bangladesh.
From January to April, much of it focused on international or location neutral topics. January, for instance, saw a flurry of false claims surrounding the inauguration of the Ram Temple in India, accompanied by doctored images and fabricated narratives. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) During this time, stories (1, 2, 3, 4) about prayer calls, fasting, and other religious practices in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and India also gained traction. Miraculous claims—angels on the roof of the Kaaba or Allah’s name appearing in the Saudi sky—rounded out this early period, appealing to a broad audience.
By May and June, the focus began to tilt toward Bangladesh-specific narratives, though international themes still held ground. July brought another surge of globally oriented claims, but the tone shifted sharply in August. From August to November, Bangladesh became the near-exclusive focus of religious misinformation, accounting for more than 92% of religious misinformation debunked by factcheckers.
Methodology
This analysis is based on reports published by eight fact-checking websites focused on Bangladesh between January and November 2024. Only unique reports on religious misinformation were considered; duplicate reports across multiple platforms were counted once.
Religious misinformation was categorized into the following types based on specific definitions:
Miracles: Claims involving divine power or inexplicable phenomena, such as floating stones or sightings of jinn and angels. Example: Reports of angels appearing on the roof of the Kaaba.
Religious Defamation: Content showing disrespect, mockery, or restrictions on religious practices. Example: Using images of deities to design footwear or labeling a religion as fake.
Conversions: Claims about individuals converting from one religion to another. Example: Allegations that cricketers Mahmudul Hasan or David Miller converted to Hinduism.
Religious Instructions: False claims related to religious rules, practices, or laws. Example: Assertions that wearing a burqa or keeping a beard has been made mandatory.
Religious Hatred: Content inciting hatred or fear against a particular religion or its followers. Example: Calls for genocide of Hindus or threats of sexual violence against Muslim women.
Communal Conflict: Incidents of violence or persecution based on religious identity. Example: Attacks on individuals or communities due to their religious background.
Religious Glorification: Content promoting the greatness or positive aspects of a religion. Example: Highlighting the beauty of mosques or temples or initiatives taken by religious communities.
Interfaith Harmony: Narratives focusing on maintaining peace, cooperation, or positive relationships between religious groups. Example: Stories showcasing collaboration between communities during festivals.
Misinformation was also classified by its geographic relevance into three categories:
Local: Content directly related to Bangladesh or involving Bangladeshi citizens abroad. Example: The false claim of a Bangladeshi student’s death during attacks on Hindu students in Kyrgyzstan.
International: Content unrelated to Bangladesh or its citizens. Example: Claims about an Israeli woman converting to Islam or Saudi Arabia appointing 42 scholars to oversee the Kaaba.
Neutral: Content applicable globally, without a specific geographic context. Example: The claim that there will be three Eid celebrations in 2030 or that NASA scientists have proven the moon was split in two.
The data may still miss certain fact-checks due to human error during the collection or review process. Instances where a single report debunked multiple pieces of misinformation may have been underrepresented or not fully captured. It is also important to note that this dataset reflects only the misinformation addressed by fact-checkers, not the entire universe of misinformation circulating. Despite these limitations, the actual number of religious misinformation incidents is likely higher, not lower, than what the data represents.
