About 80% people of Brahmanbaria don’t know what are Mis-information. As a result,3 million people of Brahmanbaria are suffering from the menace of rumor, misinformation and disinformation that are spreading in social media.
South Asia Center for Media in Development (SACMID) organized a ‘data presentation meeting on the research conducted in three districts of Bangladesh to review the situation regarding the spread of rumors through social media’ on Monday, January 29 at 12:00 p.m., at the press club auditorium of Brahmanbaria. Local civil organization Swanirbhar Brahmanbaria cooperated in organizing the workshop. A total of 35 participants from different sections of the society participated in the workshop.
Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land). Mosharraf Hossain was the chief guest spoke at the meeting. Officer in charge of Sadar police station, Aslam Hossain, General Secretary of Brahmanbaria Press Club Md. Baharul Islam Molla and Acting Information Officer of Brahmanbaria Md. Fakhrul Islam spoke as special guests. Syed Kamrul Hasan, program manager of SACMID, presided over the meeting.
Project consultant of SACMID, Professor Dr. Sheikh Shafiul Islam presented the research data. He showed that, about 51 percent of the social media users of Brahmanbaria district can open their own account. On the other hand, 13 percent people do not know how to use it. Only 35 percent people are able to verify information found on social media.
SACMID’s research was completed through a survey of a total of 400 people in three upazilas namely Dhaka, Mymensingh and Brahmanbaria districts. A total of 30 in-depth interviews and 6 group discussions were conducted in these three districts. With the financial support of the Netherlands Embassy in Bangladesh, SACMID will work in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Brahmanbaria districts of Bangladesh until September of this year on false information, disinformation and rumors. The project will emphasize on the topics like who spreads rumours, what kind of rumors are spreading, what are its effects and how to get rid of these.