Ban follows arrest of man over 'cartoon' of Hasina, Khaleda; members of popular social network angrily react to govt decision.
The government yesterday evening "temporarily" blocked access to Facebook, the most popular social networking website. The decision came after the arrest of a youth in connection with uploading satiric images of some politicians including the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
Even though the government did not make any official statement in this regard, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission sources said posting of some anti-religious and pornographic links by users across the globe are among the reasons for restricting the access.
"We have decided to block all access to facebook temporarily," said a high official of BTRC. "It was done following a decision of the government high ups," the official said.
Earlier, the BTRC directed Mango Telecom and BTCL, the two international Internet gateways, to find out a way to block anti-social contents posted by facebook users.
But the two Internet data service handlers failed to solve the problem. Therefore, the government has made the decision to block facebook, said the official demanding anonymity.
The BTRC official said recently some users posted anti-Islamic content about Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SM), which the government took very seriously. Some users frequently post some sub links to pornographic materials, which are not "tolerable", the official said.
"The access to facebook will resume when the data operators find a way to block such anti-social content," said the official.
Rab Legal And Media Wing Director commander Mohammad Sohail told The Daily Star yesterday evening, "I have heard about the blocking of Facebook but I don't know the reason behind it".
Three Islamic political parties--Islami Oikya Jote, Islami Andolan and Khelafat Andolan--on Friday demanded immediate ban on Facebook for a recent campaign by some users inviting people to draw images of Prophet Muhammad (SM).
In March last year, the government blocked the video sharing website YouTube for hosting a recorded conversation between the prime minister and army officers after the BDR carnage.
Pakistan has recently banned facebook.
In Bangladesh more than 10 lakh people are using Internet services. Facebook is the most popular social network especially among the young.
