For the last couple of weeks, violent protests erupted across #Bangladesh against quotas for jobs in the country. Foreign propaganda accounts and bots are taking control to set their narrative on social media platforms.
The protest started last month after the High Court reinstated a quota system (30% of jobs reserved for family members of freedom fighters in 1971) for government jobs, overturning a 2018 decision by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to scrap it.
Several bot accounts are making posts with the same video and statement, using the same hashtags related to student protests in Bangladesh to establish their narrative online.
Bot accounts are uploading several pornographic videos and using all the hashtags related to ongoing unrest in Bangladesh to promote and trend the narrative worldwide.
UK-based Al Jazeera Journalist Zulkarnain Saer, known as a BNP sympathizer, circulated a fake and self-invented statement claiming Junior officers of the Bangladesh Army are forced to fire bullets at the ordinary people of the country.
As internet service in the country remains banned, several accounts based in different countries are setting up propaganda about the ongoing student protests there.
DOAM, Fiona Lali, Zulkarnain Saer, Pinaki Bhattacharya, Zubaida Rahman, pro-BNP or extremist accounts take complete control and set a narrative targeting Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and law enforcement.
Bangladesh-based propaganda accounts, in collaboration with Pakistanis, are establishing their narrative against the Indian Army by sharing old videos from different locations and incidents.
Qatar government-funded Doha-based media Al Jazeera, known for its selective media coverage, made headlines in support of the violent protests. They did not do the same with PTI protesters in Pakistan.
Several Bangladeshi accounts circulated false and misleading claims about the death of the few protesting students to create panic and unrest, some of which have already been debunked by other users.
A couple of days ago, sympathizers and glorifiers of Bangladeshi violent protesters based in the UK tried to create unrest on the streets of London and used various fake news to incite violence there.
India-based left-wing student organizations such as the All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) and the All-India Students’ Federation (AISF) Organized a rally in Kolkata to show solidarity with Bangladesh’s anti-quota protesters.
The violence has killed more than a hundred people in Bangladesh, but the situation is calm for now as Bangladesh student group suspends protests over the death toll. As more propaganda is expected, be careful not to spread such content.
(This article is based on an X thread by D-Intent Data)
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