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Social Media Rumors in Bangladesh JISTaP http://www.jistap.org Research Paper Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice J Inf Sci Theory Pract 8(3): 77-90, 2020 eISSN : 2287-4577 pISSN : 2287-9099 https://doi.org/10.1633/JISTaP.2020.8.3.6 Social Media Rumors in Bangladesh Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman* Sifat Al Sife Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Musfika Sultana Mahbuba Akbar Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Kazi Taznahel Sultana Ahona Nandita Sarkar Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This study analyzes N=181 social media rumors from Bangladesh to find out the most popular themes, sources, and aims. The result shows that social media rumors have seven popular themes: political, health & education, crime & human rights, religious, religiopolitical, entertainment, and other. Also, online media and mainstream media are the two main sources of social media rumors, along with three tentative aims: positive, negative, and unknown. A few major findings of this research are: Political rumors dominate social media, but its percentage is decreasing, while religion-related rumors are increasing; most of the social media rumors are negative and emerge from online media, and social media itself is the dominant online source of social media rumors; and, most of the health-related rumors are negative and surge during a crisis period, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper identifies some of its limitations with the data collection period, data source, and data analysis. Providing a few research directions, this study also elucidates the contributions of its results in academia and policymaking. Keywords: social media, rumors, misinformation, disinformation, fake news, Bangladesh Open Access Received date: June 11, 2020 All JISTaP content is Open Access, meaning it is accessible online to Accepted date: August 31, 2020 everyone, without fee and authors’ permission. All JISTaP content is published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons *Corresponding Author: Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Under Lecturer this license, authors reserve the copyright for their content; however, they Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, permit anyone to unrestrictedly use, distribute, and reproduce the content in Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh any medium as far as the original authors and source are cited. For any reuse, E-mail: [email protected] redistribution, or reproduction of a work, users must clarify the license terms under which the work was produced. © Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman, Sifat Al Sife, Musfika Sultana, Mahbuba Akbar, Kazi Taznahel Sultana Ahona, Nandita Sarkar, 2020 JISTaP Vol.8 No.3, 77-90 1. INTRODUCTION research outputs on social media rumors focusing on South Asian countries are scant. In this study, we analyze social media In August 2018, a vigilante mob consisting of more than rumors of Bangladesh as an attempt to fill the existing gap to a hundred people burned two men alive in a small Mexican some extent. town. The mob was organized by a WhatsApp rumor claiming Bangladesh is a poverty-stricken and rumor-prone South that child abductors are collecting human organs (Martínez, Asian country with a higher rate of social media penetration 2018). Such online rumor-led mob lynching is becoming (22% in April 2019-January 2020). As of 2020, the country commonplace around the world. Studies also show that has 36 million social media users, and most of them use rumors, coupling with social media, often produce undesirable Facebook (Kemp, 2020). Although India is another rumor- consequences (Ghosh, 2008). On one hand, social media prone neighbor, Bangladesh’s situation is somewhat different. In platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, Bangladesh, for example, rumor propagation is mainly based help users to build a communication network or e-community. on Facebook (Al-Zaman, 2020a, 2020b), while in India, it is On the other hand, they may alienate users by creating filter WhatsApp-based (Banaji, Bhat, Agarwal, Passanha, & Sadhana bubbles (Zimmer, Scheibe, Stock, & Stock, 2019): Social media Pravin, 2019). Although Facebook Inc. owns both social media rumors, which frequently deceive the information-seekers (Goh platforms, they have different communication features. Whereas et al., 2017; Hashimoto, Kuboyama, & Shirota, 2011; Kwon, Cha, Facebook is a popular social networking site (SNS) that offers Jung, Chen, & Wang, 2013a, 2013b; Oh, Kwon, & Rao, 2010), flexible communication and networking options, WhatsApp is could be one of its outcomes. Thanks to social media’s surging a standalone app that is mainly used for instant messaging, like popularity, understanding the functionalities of social media Facebook Messenger. Therefore, the information production, rumors has become necessary. A few specific areas of social processing, and/or distribution in these two platforms should media rumors have already attracted researchers’ attention, such be different, as with the communication patterns and impacts. as rumor detection across social media platforms (Hashimoto Interestingly, many insidious rumors in Bangladesh are related et al., 2011; Shelke & Attar, 2019; Xu & Chen, 2015; Zubiaga, to religion and religious politics. In 2012, for instance, the Ramu Aker, Bontcheva, Liakata, & Procter, 2018), rumor propagation violence based on communal disinformation shook the country, in social media and its prevention techniques (Ahmed, Monzur, and the trend has continued in the following years (see Al- & Palit, 2016; Goh et al., 2017; Kwon et al., 2013b), and impacts Zaman, 2020b). The COVID-19 pandemic has become another and outcomes of social media rumors (Arun, 2019; Avaaz, new occasion for rumor-producers and rumor-spreaders. As 2019; Bhavnani, Findley, & Kuklinski, 2009). However, with a a repercussion, in April 2020 the government of Bangladesh growing body of literature, a few basic aspects of social media had to request Facebook authorities to close down around 100 rumors, such as popular themes, sources, and aims, are still Facebook pages that were actively spreading COVID-19-related under-researched. Moreover, rumor researches are, as it seems, rumors (Shawki, 2020). Meanwhile, to educate netizens, fact- unevenly concentrated. That means some regions are under- checking websites such as Jachai.org and BDfactcheck.com researched, such as South and Central Asia, while some regions have listed more than a hundred coronavirus-related rumors are over-researched, such as North America and Europe. For spread between February and July 2020. BBC Media Action example, using keyword searches (rumor/rumour, fake news, is also countering online rumors by creating fact-based social disinformation, misinformation) in the Scopus and Web of media content in six Asian countries, including Bangladesh Science databases in July 2020, we found around three hundred (“Communication to,” 2020). Such circumstances demonstrate published papers focusing only on social media rumors in the the importance of this study in the context of Bangladesh. 2016 US Election. Many of these studies show that rumors are To understand social media rumors in Bangladesh, we likely to surge before an election or important political events designed this study based on a three-variable analysis: popular (see Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017; Parkinson, 2016; Serban et al., themes, sources, and aims. The first variable signals about 2017; Silverman, 2016; Sydell, 2016). Although online rumoring rumors’ topics of interest; the second helps to identify the major is a global phenomenon, its features and propensities may vary and minor sources of social media rumors; the third helps to from region to region thanks to their socio-cultural, political, understand rumors’ aims by analyzing claims, contents, and/ and economic differences. For example, South Asian countries or consequences. The following discussion is divided into four are enjoying a surge of rumors and rumor-led unrest after the main sections and a few subsections. First, in the literature 2010s, and religion, unlike in other regions, plays a crucial role review, relevant and previous findings are discussed. We in rumor production (Al-Zaman, 2019; Arun, 2019). However, divided the previous literature into four thematic subsections: 78 Social Media Rumors in Bangladesh social media’s importance as an information source, studies on helps some e-communities to sustain themselves (Chmiel et al., rumor typologies, and sources and aims of rumors. Second, 2011). Further, some users produce provocative and emotional the method section contains details of the data collection and information to attract other users. The lack of gatekeeping often data analysis. In this study, a relatively novel source of rumor lets users disseminate extreme ideologies to misguide netizens, data for content analysis is introduced,
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