We have seen how hate speech and misinformation were spread through platforms like Facebook in Bangladesh,” he said, referring to past incidents of communal violence triggered by rumors spread over social media. “If you look at the provisions in the proposed legislation, you will find that we formulated it to make the global tech giants and social media companies more accountable. Posts and Telecommunication Minister Mostafa Jabbar told VOA the proposed legislation is needed and said it has been prepared for “better governance.” The government claims the law is necessary to govern online content, prevent fraud and threats to public tranquility, and to discourage piracy and obscenity. These restrictions are identical or strikingly similar to some sections of the narrower Digital Security Act 2018. Providers would have to comply within 72 hours or face fines and imprisonment. The draft regulation would allow the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to direct social media and other digital service providers to remove or block content.
The law would also ban from digital platforms content that criticizes the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh that established the country, formerly East Pakistan, the spirit of the war, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independence, the national anthem or flag, or anything that threatens to reveal government secrets. Under the proposal, no social media, digital platform or OTT platform – “over-the-top” platforms stream content directly to customers over the web – could display content threatening the “unity, integrity, defense, security, or sovereignty of Bangladesh, and its friendly relations with foreign states.”
The draft has been published on the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission website for public comment before being considered within the government and then sent to Bangladesh’s parliament, the unicameral House of the Nation, where it is expected to pass. The proposed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms legislation would establish an aggressive set of rules for digital platforms. The government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League Party and in power since 2009, has already passed controversial laws, such as the Digital Security Act, in 2018, which has been used to put politicians, journalists and ordinary citizens in jail and, according to multiple human rights groups, to curtail freedom of expression. Bangladesh is planning to introduce legislation, almost certain to be enacted, that experts say would curtail freedom of expression and the press and result in an effective government seizure of digital media.
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