“Confronting Misinformation in Bangladesh” is a project under the 2022 Alumni Innovation Fund. The Center for Governance Studies (CGS) is the implementing institution of this project in Bangladesh.

In 2022, a team from Bangladesh secured a grant through a global competition hosted by the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF). The competition drew participants from a diverse pool of State alumni, including those who had pursued their studies in the United States on Fulbright Scholarships. That year, 241 proposals were submitted, and 142 projects from 109 countries were nominated for grants, all supported by the primary funder, the U.S. Department of State.

The spread of misinformation has been a major challenge to democracy and peace in contemporary times. Bangladesh has historically been subjected to widespread political and communal violence caused by rumors and disinformation during times of elections and political uncertainty, hindering the smooth functioning of democratic transitions. The producers of such misinformation are typically victims of the ‘emotional appeal’ of rumors and lack the training to discern fact from rumor.

With a population of 170 million and thousands of media outlets both electronic and print, misinformation poses an enormous challenge in Bangladesh. Actors who reproduce and recirculate misinformation quite often do so out of ignorance and poor judgment. Social media influencers and journalists can play a crucial role in countering misinformation. However, the societal machinery involved in this production is different in every society and country. This context necessitates that the proposed project tackles the issues in two ways. First, through a series of dialogues with journalists and editors, it intends to identify the mechanisms of misinformation at the local level as well as the challenges in dealing with misinformation. Without proper identification of the problem, it cannot be effectively fought. Second, we plan to prepare training materials based on the insights gained from these discussions that will be given out through training sessions for the journalists in five divisional cities.