Disinformation has become a familiar menace in Bangladesh’s digital landscape, but its gendered dimensions are often overlooked. The recent barrage of manipulated videos, fabricated reports, and AI-generated images targeting women underscores how disinformation is being weaponized to shame, silence, and stigmatize.
Disinformation refers to the deliberate creation and spread of false or misleading information with the intent to deceive. Misinformation lacks this element of intent. When women are targeted with such campaigns -- through manipulated images, fabricated scandals, or false news reports -- it is known as gendered disinformation. This refers to false or misleading content designed not only to discredit women but also to attack their identities, appearances, and personal lives.
Take, for instance, the viral video claiming that a safe and a sack of money were found in the house of NCP leader Samanta Sharmin. Fact-checks by Dismislab revealed it was fabricated, recycled footage from the anti-casino raids in 2020. The intent was clear: to create a scandal around a female political figure and undermine her legitimacy through sensational lies.
Similarly, Dr. Tasnim Zara became the target of a disinformation campaign when doctored images surfaced, portraying her in “half pant.” Likely AI-generated, these photos were picked up irresponsibly by mainstream media outlets even. As Zara herself pointed out, such coverage was designed not to inform but to “stir whispers” and erode her dignity.
The weaponization of disinformation has not spared women in the entertainment industry either. Actress Airin Sultana recently condemned a report aired by a TV channel that falsely linked her to the “Alo Ashbei” WhatsApp group, created by former state minister for information. Screenshots of the group, which criticized the anti-discrimination student movement, went viral following the Awami League government’s ouster. Airin, however, clarified that she had supported the movement and had no political affiliations. This attempt to smear her was designed to cast suspicion and malign her reputation.
In more tragic circumstances, 23-year-old Sultana Parvin from Lalmonirhat died by suicide after a deepfake video falsely depicting her went viral. According to her family, the video was engineered by her husband’s brother-in-law to sabotage her marriage. Here, deepfake technology (AI-generated synthetic media that manipulates images or videos) was deployed as a weapon of gendered violence, ultimately leading to fatal consequences.
Student leaders have also been targeted. Recently, videos of a girl smoking, drinking, and dancing were widely circulated online with claims that she was Rubaiya Yasmin, a coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement. The girl in the videos, however, was not Yasmin but another young woman named Juthi, active on Instagram and TikTok. Juthi herself appeared live on Facebook to clarify the matter, lamenting how such false claims had harmed her social life. This incident illustrates how women’s personal choices and lifestyles are manipulated for political purposes, reducing them to tools of smear campaigns.
Beyond political and professional women, survivors of sexual violence are also ensnared in this web of disinformation. Following rape and brutal assault of a Hindu woman in Cumilla’s Muradnagar, false claims spread across Facebook that she had died by suicide. A blog site even fabricated a report citing police sources. The local police chief had to step in to confirm that the victim was alive. This instance shows how unnecessary cruelty is inflicted on a survivor already grappling with trauma.
The internet is being used not just to spread falsehoods but to weaponize a victim’s suffering and feed voyeurism. After the man named Fazar Ali raped the woman in her own home, locals filmed the survivor and uploaded the video on social media. This act shifted the focus away from the perpetrator, subjecting the victim to yet another form of violation. Even unrelated old video surfaced with claims of being “statement” of the Muradnagar survivor. Netizens kept sharing the video unknowingly until fact-checkers intervened and declared that it was in fact statement of another rape survivor of a separate incident that took place months earlier. Yet they spread widely, hijacking the victim’s story and muddling public perception.
These incidents together paint a disturbing picture: disinformation in Bangladesh is not gender-neutral. Women, whether politicians, activists, entertainers, or ordinary citizens, are uniquely targeted through fabricated scandals, manipulated imagery, and misreporting designed to shame them into silence.
What is most alarming is the complicity of mainstream media in amplifying these narratives without verification. When respected newspapers or TV channels publish manipulated photos, repeat rumors, or broadcast unverified claims, they lend credibility to smear campaigns and normalize the targeting of women.
Equally relevant here is online safety, which refers to the protection of individuals’ personal information, digital identity, and wellbeing from harm in online spaces. For women, this means safeguarding against risks such as image-based abuse, doxing (public release of private information), phishing (fraudulent attempts to steal sensitive data), stalking, and harassment, all of which can intersect with gendered disinformation.
Bangladesh urgently needs to confront this gendered disinformation crisis. Stronger accountability mechanisms for both digital platforms and news outlets are essential. Fact-checking must be institutionalized, not optional. Equally important, a rights-based framework for victim protection should prevent the circulation of survivors’ identities and images online.
Disinformation is more than a nuisance; it is a form of digital violence. And in Bangladesh, women are bearing its sharpest edge. To defend democratic spaces and ensure women’s equal participation in public life, combating gendered disinformation and ensuring online safety must be treated as priorities, not afterthoughts.