Staff Reporter:
Rumor Scanner, a fact-checking body, detected 271 misinformation cases circulated online in Jan-uary as it also published two statistical reports and a fact file during this period.
According to data compiled from fact-check reports on Rumor Scanner’s website, politics was the most affected category, with 114 cases, making up 42 percent of all misinformation detected. This was followed by 67 cases on national issues, 29 on international affairs, 18 on religion, 15 on enter-tainment and literature, 9 on education, 6 on fraud, and 5 on sports.
Among the identified misinformation cases, 115 were information-based, making it the most fre-quently observed category. Additionally, 54 cases were image-based, while 102 were video-based. In terms of classification, 175 cases were entirely false, 65 were categorized as misleading, and 31 were identified as altered.
Facebook remained the primary platform for misinformation, with 225 cases detected in January. This was followed by 56 cases on X (formerly Twitter), 44 on TikTok, 42 on YouTube, 19 on In-stagram, and at least one on Threads. Misinformation was also found in mainstream media. Ac-cording to Rumor Scanner, at least 16 instances of misinformation were published by multiple news outlets in Bangladesh.
Since last year, misinformation related to Bangladesh has been increasingly circulated by Indian media outlets and social media accounts based on India. This trend continued in January, as ob-served by Rumor Scanner. Last month, seven instances of misinformation involving Bangladesh were identified in Indian media.
Additionally, nine cases were traced back to Indian social media accounts and pages spreading false information about Bangladesh. The spread of communal misinformation has been a topic of con-cern for the past few months. In January alone, 32 instances of communal misinformation were detected. Among them, 25 cases were linked to Indian social media accounts and pages spreading false information about Bangladesh. The spread of communal misinformation has been a topic of concern for the past few months. In January alone, 32 instances of communal misinformation were detected. Among them, 25 cases were linked to Indian social media accounts and pages that propagated false or misleading narratives.
According to Rumor Scanner’s observations, 13 instances of misinformation related to the current interim government were circulated in January. The findings revealed that 77 percent of these false claims had the potential to harm the government.
At the beginning of January, a devastating wildfire in Los Angeles, USA, triggered at least 10 mis-information cases on both social media and news platforms. This was the single most misinfor-mation-heavy event of the month. Another five cases of misinformation were linked to the Janu-ary 26 clashes between students of the seven affiliated colleges of Dhaka University and Dhaka University students.
Misinformation was also spread by misusing the names and logos of major news outlets. In Janu-ary, Rumor Scanner detected 39 instances of misinformation using fake news cards, headlines, and logos of 20 local and international media outlets. Among them, Jamuna TV was misused the most, appearing in seven false claims, followed by Amar Desh, which was used in five cases. Indian me-dia outlet Hindustan Times was also falsely associated with at least one instance of misinfor-mation.
