The constant flow of purposefully crafted, misleading, or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news has been a growing global concern, and it became particularly disconcerting for Bangladesh following the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, when a section of communally oriented media outlets and many groups affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party鈥檚 Hindu nationalist government spread fake news, particularly concerning the minority affairs in Bangladesh. Rumour Scanner, an independent fact-checking platform in Bangladesh and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network, has identified 49 India-based media outlets that has spread fake news on Bangladesh from August 12 to December 5. The spread of fake news in this case incited communal violence and appeared as an attempt at creating political instability in Bangladesh. In this context, the chief adviser rightly appealed to the director of human rights of Meta on December 7, the parent company of Facebook, to contain the disinformation campaign against Bangladesh. The kind of control Meta wields over online public information requires that it takes urgent action to combat disinformation and, as the chief adviser said, plays the role of protecting the right to reliable information.
Considering the risk of inciting communal violence, especially after the incident at the court premises following the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, spokesperson of Sanatan Jagaran Mancha and a former leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness on specific charges of sedition and the killing of a lawyer and the attack on Bangladesh鈥檚 assistant high commission in Agartala by an affiliate of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the government should consider decisive steps to make Meta play its part. While it is true that international legal instruments to protect nations from disinformation are underdeveloped, Bangladesh should explore possibilities because there is clear evidence that some Indian media are spreading fake news. The Rumour Scanner identified a viral video claiming to show a temple attack in Bangladesh as fake, which was in fact taken in India during an idol immersion. The 1981 UNGA Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States, voted positively by both Bangladesh and India, mandates states to abstain from defamatory campaigns or hostile propaganda intended to interfere in another state鈥檚 internal affairs. It is a precedent that the government can call on the UN鈥檚 attention because the way Indian authorities responded to and some media outlets reported on the arrest of Chinmoy is an explicit case of unwarranted interference.聽
The government should, under the circumstances, strengthen its capacity to combat disinformation and to ensure people鈥檚 right to reliable information. It should diplomatically engage with the Bharatiya Janata Party鈥檚 government in India to take actions against their communally oriented media that are intentionally spreading fake news about minority affairs in Bangladesh. In the long term, the government should consider ratifying two international treaties, the 1936 International Convention on the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace and the 1953 Convention on the International Right of Correction, that address defamatory campaigns or hostile propaganda.
