Rumor Scanner detects 298 misinformation cases in March

Rumor Scanner, a fact-checking organisation in Bangladesh, identified 298 instances of misinformation circulating on the internet in March this year.

Previously, in January and February, it identified 271 and 268 instances of misinformation, respectively, said a report of Rumor Scanner released on Wednesday.

According to the data calculated from the fact-checks published on Rumor Scanner's website in March, the highest number of misinformation cases were related to political issues (105), accounting for 35 percent of the total misinformation.

Additionally, 103 cases were related to national issues, 12 to international issues, 36 to religious issues, 3 to entertainment and literature, 3 to education, 12 to fraud, and 16 to sports.

Among these incidents, video-centric misinformation was the most prevalent, with 143 cases.

Information-centric misinformation accounted for 110 cases, and image-centric misinformation for 45 cases. Of the identified misinformation, 168 cases were classified as false, 97 as misleading, and 31 as distorted, the report said.

Last month, Facebook was the platform where the most false information was spread, with a total of 273 cases.

In addition, 62 cases were found on X, seven on TikTok, 44 on YouTube, 26 on Instagram, and at least five on Threads.

Even the country's media outlets were not excluded from the spread of false information. Rumor Scanner observed the spread of false information in 16 instances across multiple local media outlets.

Since last year, there has been an increase in the spread of false information involving Bangladesh by Indian media and various social media accounts operated from India.

Rumor Scanner observed this trend continuing in March as well. Last month, four incidents involving Bangladesh were reported in Indian media outlets spreading misinformation.

Additionally, in three incidents, false information related to Bangladesh was spread through Indian accounts and pages on social media.

The issue of communal misinformation has been a topic of discussion for the past few months. In March, Rumor Scanner identified 26 instances of communal misinformation.

In half of these incidents, evidence was found of misinformation being spread from Indian accounts and pages on social media.

According to Rumor Scanner's observations, last month, 15 instances of false information were spread regarding the current interim government.

To understand the nature of these falsehoods, Rumor Scanner has categorized them into two groups: those that support the government (positive) and those that go against it (negative). The findings showed that all the misinformation in this context tended to go against the government.

In March, 22 instances of false information were spread about the interim government's chief advisor, Dr. Muhammad Yunus. In 77pc of these cases, the misinformation was intended to turn public opinion against him, while in 23pc of cases, the misinformation seemed to support him, according to the report.

Among the government advisers, two instances of false information involving Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyian (all against him), one involving Syeda Rizwana Hasan (against her), four involving Dr. Asif Nazrul (all against him), two involving Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed (all against him), one involving Md. Touhid Hossain (against him), and one involving the press secretary of the Chief Advisor, Shafiqul Alam (against him), have been identified.