From Promise to Perils: Social Media as Contested Political Infrastructure ‎in Bangladesh

Abstract

This article analyses the opportunities and challenges of social media in Bangladeshi politics. It ‎reframes digital platforms as contested political infrastructure rather than a simple battleground ‎between democratic promise and political peril. This framework shows that both trends happen ‎simultaneously and are accomplished with the same platform mechanics. The analysis examines ‎four political episodes: the Shahbagh Movement (2013), Road Safety Movement (2018), Quota ‎Reform Movement (2018), and July uprising (2024) and aftermath. The analysis thematically ‎analysed journal articles, institutional reports, and public documentary sources and compared ‎across cases. The role of digital platforms shifted from expression and coordination to ‎documentation, international visibility, contestation of narratives and legitimacy, and post-event ‎collective memory. The opportunity to connect, observe, move, know, and feel creates an even ‎greater reach of participation but speeds up the spread of misinformation, misrepresentation, ‎disproportionate amplification, hostility, and division. Institutional trust, verification capacity, ‎and political competition and governance arrangements impact these effects. The article takes the ‎paradox of social media to the democratic sphere and contends that digital governance ought not ‎only to ensure that civic communication is protected but also be transparent, proportional, ‎verifiable, and institutional accountable‎.