The Muslim-majority nation of around 170 million people is preparing for its first election since a 2024 student-led uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina — who fled to neighbouring India, where she has been hosted since by the Hindu-nationalist government.
Authorities say the scale of online manipulation — including sophisticated AI-generated images — has become so severe that a special unit has been created to curb false content.
‘Coordinated Indian disinformation’
The US-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate said it had tracked more than 700,000 posts — generated by more than 170,000 accounts on X, that made claims of a “Hindu genocide” between August 2024 and January 2026.
“We have tracked coordinated Indian disinformation online, falsely alleging large-scale violence against Hindus in Bangladesh,” said Raqib Naik, head of the think tank.
“More than 90 percent of this content originated from India, with the remainder linked to associated Hindu nationalist networks in the UK, US, and Canada,” he told AFP.