Bangladeshi slums falsely portrayed as New Delhi by Chinese vloggers

Chinese citizens are live streaming from the impoverished areas of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, falsely identifying them as New Delhi, India. This activity has raised concerns within Indian intelligence agencies, as it appears to be an attempt to foster negative perceptions against India among Chinese audiences.

According to a News18 report, Chinese vloggers are live streaming from poor neighborhoods in Dhaka on Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Douyin. They are presenting this footage as scenes from New Delhi, while simultaneously making derogatory remarks regarding India's lifestyle, hygiene, and living conditions. There are suspicions that this activity may be driven by commercial motives and an intention to construct an anti-India narrative.

A study conducted by Bangladesh's leading newspaper, 'Prothom Alo', revealed that Chinese citizens are extensively filming in Dhaka's Tekpara area and Sector 12 in Uttara. According to estimates by local residents, more than 150 Chinese citizens may be involved, although Prothom Alo has not independently verified this specific number.

These live streams continue from morning until night. The Chinese language comments made during these live streams were translated using Google Translate and subsequently verified by four Bangladeshi language experts. These translations clearly demonstrated that areas of Dhaka were being misrepresented as India.

In one instance, on 1 November, a Chinese woman named Mianmian, who stated she is from China's Sichuan province, was live streaming near a canal in Sector 12, Uttara, and identified the area as New Delhi. While showing the surroundings, she said, "This is New Delhi. Their houses are extremely dirty. There are no fans even in tin-roofed houses. This place is very underdeveloped, dirty, and unhygienic, and the law and order situation is also bad."

Another streamer, Wang Wei, was observed filming at tea shops in Tekpara. He informed the audience that the tea being consumed by locals was made from "cow urine" and dirty river water. Such comments are seen as an attempt to reinforce negative stereotypes regarding Indian living conditions.

High-level sources in Indian intelligence agencies view this pattern as a potential attempt to alter public perception through social media. According to sources, by presenting footage of poor neighborhoods in Bangladesh as scenes from India, streamers gain the opportunity to spread a negative depiction of India's hygiene and daily life without having to enter India for filming. This activity is believed to be part of a broader approach to build an anti-India narrative using online content.

Such broadcasts by Chinese vloggers and social media platforms have been utilized globally as tools for digital information warfare and propaganda.