137 fake accounts and pages using the prime minister's name and photo identified, state minister tells parliament
Parliament has been told that 137 fake Facebook accounts, pages and groups run using the name and photo of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman have been identified on social media.
State Minister Yaser Khan Chowdhury gave the information on behalf of Information and Broadcasting Minister Andaliv Rahman Partha on Thursday (12 November), in reply to a written question from reserved-seat MP Shirin Sultana during question time of the fourth session of the 13th National Parliament.
Parliament was told that the Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB) has identified more than 800 Facebook accounts and more than 100 X (formerly Twitter) accounts accused of spreading misleading and false information. Nineteen websites imitating newspapers and television channels to spread disinformation and propaganda have also been identified.
Earlier, the session began at 4:30 pm chaired by Speaker Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram.
The state minister said PIB's fact-check and media analysis programme 'BanglaFact' has so far published 1,172 fact checks, analyses, investigative reports and videos, of which 552 have been published since the current government took office.
BanglaFact currently verifies an average of three to five claims a day. A 'fact-check manual' for media workers will be published soon, and digital literacy and media analysis content is open to everyone through the website banglafact.com.
On journalists' skills development, the state minister said training programmes are under way across the country with special emphasis on combating rumours and hate speech, multimedia journalism and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
In the 2025-26 fiscal year, 4,095 journalists were trained in 97 workshops across 64 districts, and in the current 2026-27 fiscal year 716 journalists have been trained in 22 workshops. Of these, 1,691 journalists took part in 44 three-day trainings during the current government's tenure.
In addition, PIB offers master's and diploma courses in mass communication and journalism, along with online e-learning and more than fifty educational videos available to learn free of charge.
As part of its research and archive work, 10 national dailies are being digitised and preserved from 1 July 2024. PIB has published two research books on character assassination through the media in the past, titled 'Bangladeshe Shikari Sangbadikota' and 'Shikari Sangbadikota: Nishanay Khaleda Zia'.
