Yunus-Yardstick Used to Yank ‘Likes’, Finds Dismislab
For several months, the concept of an interim government has been a hot topic in Bangladesh’s political landscape, mainstream media, and on social media platforms. Amid this, the slogan “ড. ইউনূসকে পাঁচ বছরের জন্য ক্ষমতায় চাই” (“We want Dr Yunus in power for five years”) has gained notable popularity online. According to a recent investigation by Dismislab, a Bangladeshi online verification and media research platform, several Facebook pages are exploiting this slogan to boost their likes and engagement.
Dismislab’s findings reveal that this slogan is not being promoted by any political party. Rather, it is being used in advertisements for food, cosmetics, clothing, or personal vlogs solely to increase page likes or followers.
In a report titled “They want Dr Yunus for five years, but only to farm ‘likes’ for their pages”, published on Tuesday (May 27), Dismislab stated that between early April and mid-May, at least 47 Facebook pages ran 55 paid advertisements featuring the slogan. The ads used Dr. Yunus's name and image, encouraging users to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ the page.
Dismislab analyzed the last 20 posts of each of these pages and found that 90 percent of them had no prior engagement with political content. Most were involved in promoting products or services, not political messages.
How the Slogan Spread
According to the report, the slogan began spreading in April on social media. On March 29, Sarjis Alam, the chief organizer of the recently formed National Citizen Party (NCP) for the northern region, posted from his verified Facebook account, “It has always been my lifelong desire to see a statesman like Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus serve as the Prime Minister of an elected government in Bangladesh for five years.”
This post sparked widespread discussion and quickly went viral. Dismislab's investigation found that several Facebook pages took advantage of this trend and began using similar language in their own advertisements.
For instance, Dhaka-based restaurant The Tasty Apron ran two such ads on May 13 and 14. One of the ads read, “If you want Dr Yunus to be in power for five years, click the like button on the right.” A visible ‘like’ button was shown in the ad. However, an examination of the restaurant’s 20 most recent posts (as of May 18) found no political content.
Dismislab noted that 30 of the 47 pages—about 64 percent—are involved in food, cosmetics, clothing, healthcare, or seasonal fruit businesses. Eight pages were categorized as personal or vlog-type content. Two identified themselves as media outlets, while the rest were listed as ‘public figure’ or ‘digital marketing’ pages.
Pages such as Natural Health BD, Aambazaar, and Mayer Doa Agro, which also published posts calling for Dr Yunus to be in power for five years, were found to have no political affiliations or history of political campaigning.
The report said that these 47 pages had an average of over 35,000 likes and more than 37,000 followers. Of these, 24 pages are operated from Bangladesh, one from Italy, and one jointly from Bangladesh and the United States.
Dismislab spoke with six administrators of these pages. Four of them said they did not design the ads themselves but had outsourced promotion to advertising agencies. One admitted to creating the ads personally to gain more likes and followers, while another mentioned that they had hired a digital marketing firm and were unaware of the content of the ads. He added that while he instructed the agency to increase followers, it was the agency that decided on the content.
A.M. Faruq, founder and CEO of a firm named Yati Digital, told Dismislab, “The main purpose of such advertisements is to increase page followers. Page credibility is often measured by follower count. Advertising agencies should take into account the real-world implications of their content.”
Meta’s Policy Gaps on Political Content in Bangla
According to Meta’s policies, any advertisement that addresses political, electoral, or social issues must contain a disclaimer that discloses who paid for the ad and confirms identity verification. These ads are supposed to be stored in Meta’s Ad Library, showing where and to whom the ad was shown, how long it ran, and how much was spent. Ads that do not meet these conditions are deemed ineligible and should be removed.
Dismislab found that all 55 ads containing the slogan “We want Dr Yunus in power for five years” should qualify as political content under Meta’s definition. However, none of the ads reviewed had the required disclaimers. Of the 55 ads, 43 were still active at the time of review, while Meta had removed 12 for lacking disclaimers.
The report concluded that Meta continues to struggle with identifying political content in Bangla, especially when such ads are run not from overtly political pages but from personal or commercial accounts.
