Bangladesh’s election watchdog is warning voters about a surge of artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes ahead of Feb. 12 polls, after The Daily Star documented 97 synthetic posts on Facebook.
The paper tracked 11 pages, six profiles and two groups from Dec. 14, 2025, to Jan. 14, 2026, and found the posts drew 1.6 million likes, comments and shares within 24 hours.
Jamaat-aligned accounts produced 50 items, while Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-aligned entities posted 30 and Awami League-aligned sources 17.
The spread more than tripled from nine items in the first week to 33 in the final week, a 267% rise.
Experts said platforms can detect coordinated inauthentic behavior and should enforce moderation tools.
“Our first step is rapid detection and dissemination of accurate information,” election commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said.