Dismislab’s review-bombing report triggers new wave of attacks on its Facebook page
On November 30, 2025, Dismislab published an investigative report documenting how a coordinated network linked to the ousted Awami League had engaged in negative review bombing across various news outlets and political critiques on Facebook. The same day, Dismislab also posted the report on its own Facebook page. Within hours, Dismislab’s page was hit by a barrage of renewed attacks. Repeating the previously used language, more than 600 new negative reviews were observed. This time, however, posts in several groups and pages were also seen calling on other users to leave negative reviews on Dismislab’s page – something Dismislab did not observe during its original investigation.
Dismislab’s research shows that a coordinated network of more than 1,000 Facebook accounts has been working to lower the ratings of Facebook pages and profiles, and to leave negative reviews of analysts and politicians who criticize the Awami League or are politically opposed to it.
They have also flooded the pages of media organizations, and government institutions with negative reviews. In some cases, the review attacks began immediately after reports were published concerning the Awami League party or its activities. Such instances were seen in the cases of the media organizations Dhaka Stream and Drik.
Similar patterns were observed on Dismislab’s own Facebook page. Immediately after the publication of a report stating that Awami-leaning account holders were involved in the online harassment of National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Dr. Tasnim Zara, Dismislab’s Facebook page became the target of its first review bombing. Following that incident, Dismislab identified a coordinated network, and published a detailed report on the review bombing on November 30.
Soon after the publication of the research report, a new wave of review bombing was observed in several phases. The first occurred after the English version of the report was published on its website at 2:49 p.m. and posted on Facebook at 3:53 p.m on November 30. Review bombing began appearing from 8:35 p.m, with at least 24 negative reviews recorded that day. In the following two days –December 1 and 2–there were 36 and 8 more negative reviews, respectively.
Another phase of the attack began at 1:54 a.m. on December 3. The renewed coordinated review attack originated from a profile named Salahuddin Ahmed. The investigation found that four minutes after leaving a review, at 1:58 a.m., he posted on his own profile calling on others to leave negative reviews on Dismislab’s page. A short while later, at 2:09 a.m., this user made another post about Dismislab. At the same time, a group called “Crack Platoon Bangladesh,” which has nearly 27,000 followers, also posted a call for negative reviews. Within a few hours, several personal profiles (1,2) made similar calls for review attacks on Dismislab. From that point onward, negative review comments began appearing in clusters.
The investigation found that from 8:35 p.m on November 30 to 4:30 p.m. on December 3, a total of 730 new comments were posted on Dismislab’s page, 662 on December 3 alone. Although a few positive comments appeared sporadically, almost all were negative. Repeating earlier language, the review comments stated, “This page spreads false news and propaganda,” “This page is a propaganda machine. They also spread false information and hateful statements,” and similar remarks. Abusive and derogatory comments were also observed in the reviews.
Negative comments were also observed on Dismislab’s regular facebook posts. Several users who had already left negative reviews on the page went to the posts and made comments using various forms of abuse and derogatory language. In several posts, personal attacks were also directed at the researchers.
