Framing the border: visual narratives on Facebook news cards and their effects on audience perceptions of the India – Bangladesh dispute

This study explores how design features of Facebook news cards shape audience interpretation and decision-making in regard to the India-Bangladesh border dispute. Whereas news cards from mainstream media on Facebook increasingly serves as a source of news, simplified visual format influence public understanding and opinion-formation. Based on a qualitative approach, two FGDs were carried out with ten participants – five per group – along with the content analysis of ten Facebook news cards from four mainstream online media outlets. The findings have stated that the mainstream media logos often create a false sense of trust that leads users to consider the contents credible even though the headlines have been clickbait or selectively framed. Sensational visual framing, such as images of soldiers, distressed civilians, and weapons, strongly primes immediate interpretation, while minimal textual context restricts deeper understanding of the historical and political dimensions of the dispute. Emotional cues such as fear, anger, and anxiety-operate as prime drivers of opinion formation rather than factual accuracy. Content analysis has further highlighted the use of recurring design strategies, including algorithm-friendly layouts, simplified text, and attention-grabbing visuals, which prioritize engagement over nuance. The present study, thus, has established that news card design features importantly mediate cognitive and emotional reception of complex geopolitical issues and that there is a dire need for more legible, context-rich, and ethically-framed visual journalism on social media platforms.