A group of youth celebrating the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, after the July revolution. Photo by Bornil Amin on Unsplash. Used under an Unsplash licence.
As Bangladesh heads toward its 13th National Parliamentary Election on February 12, 2026, campaigning is moving beyond street processions and public rallies into the digital sphere. Social media, especially Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, has emerged as a key arena where political messages are crafted, debated, and pushed to wider audiences.
What was once considered an informal extension of political communication has now evolved into a core campaign tool, reflecting broader changes in voter engagement and media consumption across the country, mostly via accessible mobile phones. According to the “state of digital” in Bangladesh in 2026 report, Bangladesh had 186 million active mobile connections, about 105 percent of the population. The same report mentions that 82.8 million people, or 47 percent of people, use the internet, and 64 million use social media, mostly Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more: The upcoming election will determine the future of Bangladesh’s democracy and reform agenda
Social media takes center stage as campaign strategy
Political parties and candidates in Bangladesh are now heavily investing in online outreach. According to a report by the Daily Sun, social media campaigning has become a key component of election strategy, complementing traditional grassroots mobilization. The report mentions that on Facebook, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman has 5.6 million followers. Bangladesh Jamat-e-Islami Party’s Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has 2.3 million followers, and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has 1.2 million followers on Facebook.
Candidates routinely use videos, live streams, and short posts to communicate directly with voters across constituencies. Political parties and candidates are also using innovative online campaign sites, campaign songs, games, and other interactive content to engage the voters of different constituencies.
With millions of Bangladeshis active online, especially the 39 percent of the population aged 13–34, platforms such as Facebook and TikTok play an increasingly important role in shaping political awareness. Digital campaigning is no longer peripheral; it has become central to how political messages are delivered and received.
Rules for online campaigning
In response to the expanding influence of social media, the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) has introduced regulations aimed at limiting digital misuse during election periods. Candidates are required to submit details of their official social media accounts in advance, and content that violates the electoral code of conduct is prohibited.
Bangladesh Election Commission head office in Dhaka. Image by the author.
A Daily Sun summary of the election guidelines notes that spreading unverified or harmful information online, including disinformation and personal attacks, may result in penalties. The rules also explicitly ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to distort facts, manipulate images or videos, or mislead voters.
The regulations are intended to prevent online campaigning from undermining electoral fairness and transparency.
Misinformation and AI-generated content
Despite these safeguards, misinformation and digitally manipulated content spiked amid concerns about digital campaigns. In an in-depth fact-check, The Daily Star identified nearly 97 pieces of AI-generated content circulating on Facebook ahead of the election. Many of these posts, including deepfakes and other manipulated videos, spread widely and were used to tilt political narratives in favor of competing party camps. A recent AFP fact-checking report also confirms the use of AI-generated content to support various political parties.
Meanwhile, data released by fact-checking group Rumor Scanner — reported by Bangla Daily Prothom Alo — found 268 instances of misinformation spreading across online platforms in a single month, with a large share related to political topics. Facebook hosted most of these misleading posts.
These patterns illustrate how social media, while democratizing access to information, can also become a vector for deceptive political messaging.
Local political voices on social media abuse
Political actors themselves have begun to publicly address the misuse of social media. In a recent Prothom Alo coverage, Mahdi Amin, spokesperson for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), accused rival groups of spreading widespread misinformation and character-assassination campaigns online ahead of the election. Reports also show how bot-driven waves of fake “haha” post reactions are used to target Facebook posts by activists and politicians across Jamaat, BNP, Awami League, and NCP circles, illustrating how bought engagement distorts public perception and exploits Facebook’s algorithm to suppress the reach of specific posts.
Such incidents capture broader concerns among local political communities about the effects of online campaigns on voter perception and political stability.
At the same time, social media platforms are taking steps to address the situation. TikTok Bangladesh has launched an “Election Information Center” in partnership with the Election Commission, aiming to provide users with official election updates. The move reflects how platforms are trying to offset misinformation by promoting verified information.
Why this matters to global audiences
Bangladesh’s experience mirrors a broader global pattern: social media has evolved from a simple communication tool into a political battleground where narratives are quickly built and amplified to a targeted audience. As Bangladeshi political parties fight for Gen‑Z attention, experimenting with viral content on social media, and confronting misinformation in parallel with street politics, legacy media are used less and less.
For international audiences, examining how digital platforms shape elections in Bangladesh offers a window into the changing nature of political participation and the pressures democracies face when technological change moves faster than oversight.
