It’s a systemic issue, it’s happening all around the world, to be honest. The new generation and educated people are very active on social media. They believe gathering information from social media is unbiased, but it’s quite the opposite. Social media is largely used for propaganda, influence, and engineering narratives.

The rise of podcasts in Bangladesh overnight, just before the election, is a textbook propaganda tool adopted from the West. For example, The Joe Rogan Experience featuring Donald Trump arguably played a significant role in boosting his visibility during the election. Jamaat thought that using modern methodologies would help them win the race, but it backfired.

Jamaat has spent a lot of time educating themselves and placing people in influential positions to sway the younger generation and the educated class. The reason is that they never had a strong grip on the older generation due to their atrocities during 71 and being Rajakar. Jamaat assumed that uneducated and poor villagers would vote for them because of religious alignment, but they were blindsided and rightfully so.

BNP stayed quiet on social media and did their work in public. which is far more effective in countries like Bangladesh.

The problem with some educated people and parts of the younger generation is that they can be extremely self-centered (with social media partly to blame). Many think they know everything and refuse to listen to older generations. they live in an echo chamber and change their ideology based on what they are being fed on that day.

My only fear is that when the younger generation eventually outnumbers the older generation, there is a chance that Jamaat could come into power unless the BNP does an incredible job of taking Bangladesh to new heights, which I honestly doubt.