How '100 dead in CHT clashes' disinfo spread through social media: dismislab

The death toll in the violent clashes that erupted in the hill districts of Khagrachhari and Rangamati on 20 September has killed four, not 32, 67 or 100 as claimed by many in social media.  

Dismislab, an independent online verification and media research platform, disclosed their findings in a research article published yesterday (29 September), highlighting how the bulk of disinformation came from the Indian side.  

"As concerns about the human rights of the minority hill communities grew, misinformation regarding the death toll of indigenous people spread rapidly on social media, fueling further confusion and panic across the region and beyond," reads a dismislab article titled "From four to a hundred: The politics of disinformation in the Hill Tracts conflict."

It said in the days following the clashes, various posts on X, Facebook, and YouTube, inflated the death toll to 32, 67, or even 100. 

"This disinformation was further exacerbated through formal statements by various Indian organisations and politicians, speeches during student protests, and eventually found its way into mainstream media reports in India," reads the dismislab article. 

The platform said it became a part of political campaigns on both sides of the border at one point.  

Claiming that the violence was, in some cases, framed as part of a coordinated plan to oppress Buddhist and Hindu religious minorities living in Bangladesh, dismislab said accusations of genocidal attack were made against the army, the Bengali population residing in the Hill Tracts, and the current interim government of Bangladesh. 

The early rumour of 32 people being killed in the clashes surfaced on a Facebook page called "Jummo" on the night of 19 September. 

Dismislab said it found one of the first instances of this claim on the profile of a man named Mohammad Zakaria Islam, who identified himself as a Bangladeshi citizen and an activist of Awami League (AL) on his Facebook profile. 

The platform found several others who identified themselves as AL activists sharing the same false death tolls on Facebook. 

On 20 September, a video posted on the Facebook page of Tripura-based news outlet The Jummo Times showed a scene of destruction caused by fire and claimed that 33 Chakma people had been killed in the army's shooting and by fires set by Bengali settlers. 

However, the location of the shooting was falsely identified as Dighinala instead of Khagrachari town.

The death toll continued to rise and eventually reached 67, and later 79. 

The earliest claim of 67 deaths came from a profile named Atul Chakma. 

He wrote, "People are saying that the number of civilians' deaths is more than 150. 67 Death bodies found and many number of injured civilians." 

Atul Chakma has a page where he states that he resides in India, and found dismislab research.

The platform said several political and student organisations in India issued statements condemning the incidents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts starting from the night of 20 September. 

Many of these organisations also organised protests, where they presented exaggerated death tolls.

Tripura's Minister of Industry and Commerce and BJP member, Santana Chakma, mentioned the death of 40 people in a letter to Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister, describing it as an "organised attacks and killings" of minorities. 

It was also reported by the media.

The false death tolls shared by Indian activists and leaders also found their way into mainstream news outlets. 

Dismislab said the issue became part of political campaigns from two angles: first, from BJP supporters and leaders, including indigenous leaders in India, and second, from supporters of the recently ousted Bangladesh Awami League. 

Most posts on various pages or X handles referred to the entire incident as genocide and ethnic cleansing, with calls for intervention from the United Nations and the United States. 

AL supporters also used the false death tolls in their propaganda against Dr Yunus and the interim government. 

Early on, the "Supporters of Bangladesh Awami League" group shared claims of 32 deaths. Later, some party members questioned why central coordinators wouldn't take responsibility for the deaths, promoting the figure of 36 killed. 

The hashtag #StepDownYunus was used on X to spread these false death tolls.

By 22 September, a campaign to revoke Dr Yunus's Nobel Peace Prize had started, with a petition referring to the recent attacks in Rangamati and Khagrachari.

This petition was shared on social media by Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Sheikh Hasina and her advisor on information and communication technology. 

However, the petition is no longer available on Change.org. 

The link now shows: "This petition isn't available. Either the URL is incorrect, it violated our Community Guidelines, or the starter removed it."

Quoting multiple media outlets in Bangladesh, dismislab reported four deaths in three separate incidents in Khagrachhari and Rangamati. 

Among them, two died from injuries in Rangamati and Dighinala, Khagrachari, while two others were shot dead in Khagrachari's Swanirvar area.

The platform also talked to at least eight local journalists, government officials and leaders of various local organisations in the two districts. All of them reported four deaths in the clashes.