Fact-Check Call as Fake News Fears Rise Ahead of 13th Parliamentary Polls

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has urged media outlets to establish their own fact-checking units to identify and counter fake news and disinformation on social media ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election. He also said that CCTV cameras will be installed at vulnerable polling centres, while officials on duty will be equipped with body-worn cameras connected to a dedicated app.

Briefing the media, Shafiqul Alam said the Ministry of Home Affairs is developing a special app to enable rapid response during the election period. He noted that a similar system was used during Durga Puja, when around 32,000 puja mandaps across the country were connected through the app, allowing authorities to deploy rapid response teams immediately when incidents occurred.
“The same strategy will be applied during the election,” he said, adding that risky centres will be monitored through CCTV and body-worn cameras, with all relevant personnel connected via the app to ensure swift intervention if any untoward situation arises.

However, he cautioned that social media poses a greater risk than polling centres themselves in this election. “Preventing disinformation on social media is now the biggest challenge,” he said, explaining that even if a false or misleading post is removed, the same individual can reopen a new account the next day and spread it again. As a result, tackling online disinformation and propaganda has become the primary challenge in ensuring a credible election.

He said the issue was also discussed with the head of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) during a recent meeting with the Chief Adviser. In this context, Shafiqul Alam stressed that it is crucial for media organisations to operate their own fact-check units to counter election-related disinformation circulating online.

He made the remarks at a press briefing held on January 11 (Sunday) at the Foreign Service Academy on Bailey Road in the capital. Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder and Senior Assistant Press Secretary Fayez Ahmed were also present.

At the briefing, Shafiqul Alam noted that around 120 million people in Bangladesh use Facebook, while TikTok has nearly 60 million users. “On platforms of this scale, even a small piece of false information can take hours to contain,” he said, adding that platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Meta do not always provide swift or effective cooperation.

Responding to a question about the role of certain external influencers and the subsequent violence surrounding reports of the death of Shaheed Sharif Osman Hadi, Shafiqul Alam said such risks are common during elections and the government is preparing accordingly.

He added that the government is regularly issuing alerts through the Chief Adviser’s official page by identifying fake news and disinformation. Surveillance is also underway against those spreading false information in an organised manner. However, he stressed that government action alone is not enough.
“This is a social responsibility,” he said. “We call on newspapers, television channels, and online media to launch their own fact-check units to counter election-related propaganda.”

Referring to coordinated government efforts to regulate social media, he said the ICT Division and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) are working on the issue, but acknowledged that the task is highly complex due to the sheer volume of users.

DBTech/JNO/EK/OR