The Social Media Battlefield: Political Campaigns in Bangladesh’s National Elections

• Campaigning for Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliamentary Election on February 12, 2026, has shifted from traditional grassroots rallies to digital platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
• With 64 million social media users in the country, digital outreach has become the primary strategy for engaging voters, especially the 39% of the population aged 13–34.
• The Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) has implemented strict regulations prohibiting AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes, and personal attacks to protect electoral integrity.
• Despite regulations, fact-checking groups have identified hundreds of instances of misinformation and AI-manipulated content circulating online to manipulate political narratives.

Digital Campaign Strategies

• Major political leaders are leveraging massive followings to reach voters directly:
  • Tarique Rahman (BNP Chair): 5.6 million Facebook followers.
  • Shafiqur Rahman (Jamat-e-Islami): 2.3 million Facebook followers.
  • Nahid Islam (NCP Convener): 1.2 million Facebook followers.
• Parties are employing innovative content, including campaign songs, interactive games, and live streams, to replace traditional media dominance.

Misinformation and AI Challenges

• The Daily Star reported 97 instances of AI-generated content on Facebook designed to tilt political narratives.
• Rumor Scanner identified 268 instances of political misinformation in a single month, primarily hosted on Facebook.
• Regulations now require candidates to register official accounts and mandate that any use of AI to distort facts or manipulate imagery is strictly prohibited.

Political Abuse and Platform Response

• Political actors, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have accused rivals of orchestrating widespread character-assassination campaigns.
• Bot-driven "haha" reactions are being used to exploit algorithms, suppressing the reach of posts by opposition figures across various political camps.
• TikTok has launched an “Election Information Center” in partnership with the EC to provide users with verified election updates and combat the spread of deceptive content.