Chhatra Dal leader did call protesting HSC examinees 'drug addicts and TikTokers': the viral claim is true

What is the claim?

From midday on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, a video spread across Facebook. It was claimed that a Dhaka University (DU) Chhatra Dal leader mocked HSC examinees, who were marching to demand postponement of their exams, as 'drug addicts and TikTokers' and threatened them to go home.

The original source of the video is the education news outlet The Daily Campus, whose Facebook page captioned it: "'You are lucky Hasina is gone, head home', a Chhatra Dal leader to HSC examinees". Within hours the video crossed 500,000 views and 32,000 reactions. Reposts by SiFat SiKder, Md Rayhanul Abedin and others framed it explicitly as examinees being branded 'drug addicts and TikTokers'.

FactCheckerLab separately verified the video's audio, the filming outlet's own caption, and the day's events.

Verdict: true. Why?

1. The footage belongs to a news outlet, and it is neither old nor edited

This is not anonymous-page footage. The Daily Campus filmed it, watermarked it with its logo, and published it on 14 July 2026 on both Facebook and its website ^[1]. The video shows the DU campus, police presence and a truck painted in BNP flag colours, all consistent with reports of that day's events. We found no sign that the footage is recycled or manipulated.

2. Both words, 'drug addict' and 'TikToker', are clearly audible

At the start of the 1-minute-41-second video (0:00 to 0:10), the white-shirted Chhatra Dal leader is heard saying: 'You are lucky Hasina is gone, head home'. The Daily Campus itself quoted this line in its caption ^[1]. Between 0:17 and 0:25, the words 'মাদকাসক্ত' (drug addict) and 'টিকটকার' (TikToker) are clearly audible, aimed at the protesting examinees, with 'TikToker' spoken twice. FactCheckerLab ran the audio through speech-to-text independently; both words register in that window.

3. The date, location and context match news reports

On 14 July 2026 at 11am, HSC examinees began a march from the Science Lab intersection that passed through the Dhaka University campus towards Shahbagh and later the Dhaka Education Board ^{[2] [3]}. Prime Minister Tareq Rahman was on the DU campus at the time, so additional police were deployed and the procession was blocked near the Vice-Chancellor's residence ^[2]. The crowding, police presence and tension visible in the video match these accounts.

What were the examinees demanding?

With HSC exams continuing through relentless rain, flooding and waterlogging, examinees' suffering peaked. On 11 July 2026 exams in five districts were postponed until 16 July ^[4], but exams continued everywhere else, and examinees took to the streets. They pressed three demands ^[3]:

1. Suspend HSC and equivalent exams until the disaster situation fully normalises.

2. Arrange fresh exams for candidates who could not sit the 13 July 2026 papers because of severe weather.

3. The resignation of Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon within 24 hours.

Later in the same video, an examinee is heard tearfully recounting having to wade through knee-deep water to sit an exam while ill. Protesters also alleged the education minister had called examinees 'farm chickens' ^[5].

Conclusion

In The Daily Campus's own video from the Dhaka University campus on 14 July 2026, a Chhatra Dal leader is heard calling protesting HSC examinees 'drug addicts' and 'TikTokers' and telling them, in a threatening tone, 'You are lucky Hasina is gone, head home'. The date, location and context check out independently. The claim is true.