Published on June 28th, 2024 | by Mahbub Hasan

How a goat went viral and destroyed a man, his family, and the owner

Social media is a hell of a thing. The top 5 social media alone control the majority of trends and are responsible for connecting billions of people in a not-so-positive way. Due to the nature of our social biology, social media can drive us mad and sad with content it pushes through sophisticated algorithms. The more heated and controversial a topic is, the faster it will go viral.

Virality always comes at a cost, but this story is unique and hilarious on so many levels that it deserves a read. This is how a goat destroyed a family, a man, and his empire, and finally destroyed the owner with one social media post.

It begins with a post on Facebook

At the beginning of the second week of June, a simple Facebook post went online. It was about a goat that cost around $1300 or 10 lakh INR. The price was the attraction point, as no other goat was marked up this huge. The owner/seller of the goat said it was an import, thus the cost. A young buyer named “Iffat” was seen smiling proudly with the goat, claiming the purchase of the goat.

After the post went online, some people asked about how this seemingly young fellow could afford a goat which usually goes around one-tenth of the price. The answer from the boy was that he was the son of a prominent powerful member of the government official, employed in a high position at the National Board of Revenue of Bangladesh. His name was Matiur Rahman.

Matiur Rahman starts denying tie with Iffat through news media

The drama did not begin after that post went viral, it was when the alleged father of the young buyer Iffat denied a tie with him in the news. He denied that Iffat was his son, and he also threatened to take legal action if Iffat tried to push the idea of it. After the news broke, it made another round on the internet and lots of memes and opinion was shared around until someone posted proof of Iffat and Matiur’s relation which proves that Iffat is indeed the son of Matiur.

Then the new news broke and people started to wonder why a father trying to disown his son publicly, denying any ties. People online started to dig a little deeper. Turns out, Matiur married Iffats mom in a secret pact and kept that family secret from his other wife indicating that Matiur had illicit relations with Iffats mother before marrying her. Matiur’s personal life unfolded, and the secret he kept was public all due to social media.

People weren’t happy, they wanted to dig even deeper

When you post something on social media or any side of the internet, it will be there forever. Even if you delete it, someone will have a copy of what you posted forever. People can look into it, people can judge you, and there can even be an official investigation against you. What prompted people to look deeper is Iffats lifestyle. While his father tried to deny any tie with Iffat, his money seemed to link them closer and closer. With a lavish house and luxury cars, Iffats social media wall screamed “rich dad” image.

People questioned if it’s possible that the father secretly still has relationships with the family, or perhaps the luxurious life of Iffat is because of the hush money payments from his dad. Or maybe both. All the info was public and in front of people’s eyes. And it prompted something within the government itself. Government officials and the anti-corruption unit started to get bombarded with questions and requests to look into the matter.

A federal investigation begins

NBR and the anti-corruption unit of Bangladesh started separate investigations, and again, his luxury life, and his son, daughters luxury life were all public. The social media public is not idle at all, they start to list all the nice things the family has at their disposal. More cars, amusement parks. What was not public, the investigators went ahead and found out about them too, all thanks to the prompts the public has managed to provide. He was also removed from his position.

Looks like the seller of the goat wasn’t innocent either

Even though Matiur’s chapter is continuing and he has now been banned from traveling outside the country, people went ahead and targeted Sadiq Agro, the farm that owned that goat. The police were prompted by social media and they ran an investigation against the farms owner, where the owner was illegally running the farm in the central capital. The city corporation went ahead and smashed the farm into the ground, ending the owner’s run in the capital for now.

The goat was a lie!

After the goat post went viral, it destroyed Matur’s life, his family’s peace and relation, and the owner’s life. Was the goat even significant in this story? After a bit of research, people found out that the goat was not imported at all, and the price was marked up ten times for absolutely no reason. It was a lie that the goat had any specialty and difference compared to a regular local same-breed goat. Not only did people find out the goat was a lie, but they also found out that the goat was never even sold to Iffat! The post was nothing but a prideful display of ability that went nowhere. And even when the goat wasn’t sold and instead of profiting from it, his entire business was destroyed.

What can we learn from this story?

Lack of privacy and show-off started a butterfly effect, and now, the face of a goat is responsible for a big chaos. Only if the son just shut his mouth up, everything could have been normal. Although his father, a corrupt official would never be caught, so this is now a good thing. But this can be a lesson. We don’t always need social media, but when we need it, we have to make sure it is being used for good things. And of course, privacy can save your butt at every turn. Or maybe the lesson is that don’t be like Iffat, or Matiur, or Sadiq Agro.

Tags: corruption, privacy, public justice, social media, virality

About the Author

Mahbub Hasan is a creative professional from Bangladesh. In Technofaq, Mahbub writes articles about design, privacy, technology and life surrounding them.