Bangladesh's State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim has directed the BTRC to strike an agreement with Facebook Inc to prevent posting of “objectionable” contents on the social networking site.
She gave the directive while interacting with the officials of the telecom regulators on Tuesday. It was her first visit to the commission after she assumed charge.
The minister said Facebook had proposed a similar agreement during the tenure of erstwhile BNP-Jamaat coalition government, but the latter ignored it.
Facebook had then sought a deed of indemnity against any objectionable content.
“It’s imperative to have an agreement with Facebook so that we can regulate the contents which are defamatory, disrespectful towards women, encourage militancy, and create instability in the country,” she said.
There have been instances of Facebook being used to harass people. A few years ago, Buddhist community at Ramu in Coax’s Bazar was attacked following rumours spread on the social networking site.
Reports claim since Bangladesh does not have any agreement with Facebook, the government’s request to prevent the posting of ‘objectionable’ contents often goes unheeded.
In the past two and a half years, Bangladesh government sought information of 37 persons from the Facebook, but to no avail.
“I want visible changes on cyber security issues. You know many women victims of cyber crimes in rural areas have even committed suicide,” Tarana Halim told the BTRC officials.
She also directed the officials to continue their drive against illegal mobile-phone handsets and VoIP.
Tarana said they are now ready to launch dot bangla (.bangla) domain on Feb 21, 2016.