Facebook blocked in Bangladesh: CSOs urge not to censor freedom of expression

[VOICE, Dhaka, 31 May 2010]

VOICE expresses its serious concern over
 the infringement of freedom of expression and the government’s control on the access to information through blocking the social networking site,
 Facebook.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) blocked access to Facebook last Saturday, 29 May 2010. Facebook is 
increasingly becoming a popular online medium among the youth to stay connected with important opportunities and contacts and perform their socio-cultural, family or livelihood- related activities. Close to one million users in Bangladesh now log on to Facebook on a regular basis.

While we condemn the posting of anti-Islamic elements on Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SM), porn links or uploading satiric images of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition- for which the Government has allegedly banned Facebook, we believe such banning would not help to stop the causes. It only blocks the ‘Freedom of Expression’ rights, Right to Information ACT enacted last year and will only tarnish the image of the country abroad. Such banning is also contrary to the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ declaration of the present Governent, that has got many young people to vote for them.

We also express our solidarity to all protests organized by the students, columnists, ICT specialist, researcher, NGOs, CSOs and regular users of Facebook. We strongly support the role of media who took it as a serious issue and publish and broadcast immediate reactions and comments. It is worth nothing that in March 2009, the government blocked the video sharing website YouTube for hosting a recorded conversation between the prime minister and army officers after the BDR massacre.

We now demand immediate withdrawal of this ban on Facebook and request to restore the site for the sake of all users in Bangladesh. We also call on government to stop all kinds of censorship and surveillance both in offline and online media. We urge the government to ensure freedom of expression and promote right to access to information with human rights standard and democratic values.