Background 

Partnerships for a more Tolerant, Inclusive Bangladesh (PTIB) is a multi-year initiative to understand and prevent hate speech, digital harm, and associated intolerance and violence in Bangladesh. The project (2023-2024) builds on the foundations of the project’s earlier phase that supported Bangladesh’s efforts to understand sources of intolerance and violence, engage citizens as messengers of positive messages of tolerance and inclusivity, and develop a coherent and contextual strategy to promote tolerance and inclusivity particularly in digital space. As a nation, Bangladesh was born from a liberation war and founded on a tradition of tolerance and plurality. However, intolerant ideologies are spreading in Bangladesh online sphere as an offshoot of its development success in mass digitalization. PTIB’s research in its previous phase has evidence of this growing threat. As internet access continues to rapidly expand, Bangladeshis are increasingly exposed to the digital harms of disinformation, intolerance, hate speech, and the threat of social tension. While there has been no repeat of the large-scale violent attack in 2016 that catalysed the programme’s previous phase, PTIB’s social media monitoring since 2018 has found that intolerant ideologies flourish in Bangladeshi cyberspace. It tries to erode equality by attacking women's rights, marginalizing ethnic and religious minorities, and promoting the persecution of vulnerable groups. Without more concerted pushback, these radical ideas and hateful content will set new norms that could inspire physical violence. PTIB is a unique programme that researches these harms and threats. During its previous phase, PTIB expanded beyond its origins as a narrowly focused prevention on violence extremism project. It adopted a broader set of goals to address foundational issues of intolerance, hate speech, disinformation, and social tensions underwriting violence. International partners and the Bangladesh government strongly supported its shift in emphasis.