In the wake of Bangladesh’s most severe measles outbreak in decades, a storm of misinformation brewed online, alleging a government cover-up of child fatalities directly linked to the disease. These claims, amplified by the political party of the ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, painted a grim picture of official deceit, suggesting that hospitals were instructed to deliberately withhold data on measles-related deaths. The narrative, spread through social media, specifically a Bengali-language post on Hasina’s Awami League party’s Facebook page, asserted that the government had ordered hospitals and clinics across the country to suppress reporting on child deaths due to measles. This…

In today’s interconnected world, where information travels at lightning speed, a new kind of warfare has emerged – one fought not with bullets and bombs, but with narratives and disinformation. This information warfare poses a significant threat to national security, corporate reputations, and even our understanding of reality. A recent event, highlighted in a LinkedIn post by the company Alethea, starkly illustrates the speed and potency of these digital campaigns. A fabricated video, supposedly showing an Iranian downing of a U.S. F/A-18 fighter jet, spread globally in a mere 69 minutes, as meticulously reconstructed by The New York Times. This…