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Voters in Bangladesh are set to choose a new government on February 12. Experts caution that their decision could be undermined by a coordinated wave of disinformation, much of which appears to originate from neighboring India.
The predominantly Muslim country, home to approximately 170 million people, is preparing for its first election since a student-led uprising in 2024 ousted Sheikh Hasina—who has since sought refuge in India, hosted by the Hindu-nationalist government there.
Authorities report that online manipulation, including advanced AI-generated images, has become so widespread that a dedicated unit has been established to combat false content.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, serving as interim leader, stated in January that there had been a “flood of misinformation” surrounding the elections when he reached out to UN rights chief Volker Turk for assistance.
“This misinformation comes from both foreign media and local sources,” Yunus said.
Much of the false information centers around claims that Bangladesh’s minorities—approximately 10% of the population, mostly Hindus—are under attack. Online posts with hashtags like “Hindu genocide” have proliferated, claiming violence against Hindus.
Police data from January indicate that in 2025, out of 645 incidents involving minority groups, only 12% were identified as sectarian in nature.
The Center for the Study of Organized Hate, based in the US, reported tracking over 700,000 posts from more than 170,000 accounts on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). These posts, created between August 2024 and January 2026, falsely claimed large-scale violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.
Raqib Naik, director of the think tank, said, “We’ve observed a coordinated disinformation campaign originating from India, falsely alleging extensive violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. Over 90% of this content came from India, with the rest linked to Hindu nationalist networks in the UK, US, and Canada.”
Some debunked posts, which had been shared tens of thousands of times, include an AI-generated video of a woman missing an arm, urging voters not to support the BNP, a leading opposition party. Another computer-generated clip shows a Hindu woman claiming that followers of the faith are being instructed to vote for Jamaat-e-Islami or face exile to India.
Many AI-produced videos circulating on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram lack clear disclaimers indicating they are artificially generated.
The rise in disinformation follows years of political repression under Sheikh Hasina, during which opposition voices have been stifled and dissent suppressed.
“Compared to previous periods, there’s a significantly greater amount of fake information now,” said Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury, head of Digitally Right, a research organization in Dhaka. “Easy-to-use AI tools make creating convincing fakes much simpler.”
One AI-created video depicts Bangladeshis supposedly praising Hasina, who is now a fugitive sentenced in absentia for crimes against humanity.
In India, social media outrage from Hindu fundamentalists concerning a Bangladeshi cricket player participating in India’s IPL league led to his team cancelling his contract. This controversy escalated, resulting in Bangladesh’s national team withdrawing from the T20 World Cup scheduled in India.
While much of the disinformation appears to originate from India, there’s no evidence suggesting the Indian government is orchestrating these large-scale media campaigns.
India’s foreign ministry has acknowledged a “disturbing pattern” of attacks on minorities by extremists in Bangladesh but emphasizes its commitment to “free, fair, inclusive, and credible elections.”
The Bangladesh Election Commission’s spokesperson, Md Ruhul Amin Mallik, explained that they’re collaborating with Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and have established a social media monitoring unit. Still, managing the sheer volume of online content remains an ongoing challenge.
“Whenever our team identifies harmful or misleading content, we promptly label it as false information,” Mallik stated.
Election analyst Jasmine Tuli, a former official with the election commission, highlighted the particular dangers posed by AI-generated images in Bangladesh. With over 80% of urban households and nearly 70% of rural ones owning smartphones, many citizens are still relatively inexperienced with digital literacy.
“AI-created fake visuals represent a serious threat,” Tuli warned. “Voters can be easily misled, which could influence their voting decisions.”
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