Artificial intelligence-driven criminal activity is rising sharply in Bangladesh, with deepfakes, disinformation campaigns, and AI-generated content increasingly weaponised against individuals and institutions, according to a report released on Sunday, 7 June 2025. Experts are calling for an urgent national and global AI regulatory framework to contain the damage before it becomes irreversible.

Scale of the Problem

The numbers are stark. According to local fact-checking organisation Rumor Scanner, a total of 68 severe rumours and items of misinformation targeted 29 prominent women in Bangladesh's showbiz industry in 2025 alone. Of those 68 smear campaigns, 50 video contents explicitly utilised advanced AI technology — meaning more than 73% of the attacks were AI-generated, according to the data cited in the report.

Deepfakes and the Content Crisis

Television studios and social media platforms in Bangladesh are increasingly using AI to generate content, and the resulting deepfakes have become exceptionally difficult for ordinary viewers to distinguish from authentic material. AI image-generation tools have gained particular traction among young users, with conversational and generative platforms such as Copilot, Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Sora 2, Runway Gen 4.5, and Google Veo 3.0 all recording growing adoption in the country.

Broader Institutional Risks

The threat extends well beyond individual reputations. Experts cited in the report argue that the unregulated proliferation of AI could inflict severe long-term damage on Bangladesh's education system, job market, and cinema industry. The convergence of cheap generative tools, low platform accountability, and weak domestic legislation has created a regulatory vacuum that bad actors are actively exploiting.

The Regulation Dilemma

Tech analysts are pressing for immediate, strict AI regulations — but with a critical caveat. Experts warn that any new law must be carefully drafted to avoid becoming a tool of political suppression. According to the report, legislation must draw clear distinctions between criticism, misinformation, deliberate disinformation, hate speech, satire, and political sarcasm. As the report noted, 'If the law remains ambiguous, a rumour prevention law runs the high risk of swiftly mutating into a criticism-suppression law.' This concern is not hypothetical — several countries in South and Southeast Asia have seen broadly worded digital content laws deployed against journalists and opposition voices.

Platform Accountability and What Comes Next

The report also calls for enforcing local accountability on major social media platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and X, demanding greater transparency, local-language content moderation, and active action against fake accounts, bot networks, unlabelled AI videos, and communal content. Without binding obligations on these platforms within Bangladeshi jurisdiction, experts argue, self-regulation will remain insufficient. The push for a comprehensive AI policy framework is now gaining urgency as the gap between technological capability and legal oversight continues to widen.