The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) yesterday lifted the ban on popular video-sharing website YouTube after 260 days of imposing the restriction on its access in the country.
The BTRC made phone calls to all international internet gateway authorities at 4pm yesterday, requesting them to allow YouTube in Bangladesh. Later, it sent emails to them.
BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose conveyed apology on behalf of the commission for the inconveniences caused to its subscribers.
“We know for the past eight and half months people have been disturbed…we are sorry for the inconvenience of people,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
“The BTRC has had talks with the Google authority for months and finally we have this good news for users,” he said.
The telecom watchdog blocked YouTube in Bangladesh temporarily on September 17 last year to prevent people from watching a 14-minute trailer of a film titled “Innocence of Muslims,” which mocks Islam and Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).
The BTRC chairman said the ban was lifted after getting assurance from Google that it would filter the objectionable video.
“A cautionary note – ‘It contains sensitive news, you may not open it’ – will be displayed on the page of the video until it is fully filtered from the site,” Sunil said.
Google has assured the BTRC of installing an independent server in Bangladesh as soon as possible for filtering objectionable items on YouTube in future, he added.
Sunil had a meeting with Google authorities in April when they promised to take action especially for Bangladesh.
Soon after its release on YouTube, the “Innocence of Muslims” sparked deadly protests across the Middle East and South Asia.
Islamist organisations in Bangladesh also protested making of the film.
Subsequently, the BTRC took the decision to block YouTube as the Google US and Google APAC, which controls YouTube operations across the Asia-Pacific region, did not respond to Bangladesh’s request to withdraw the video.
The BTRC chairman said: “We had committed in December to open YouTube, but we could not manage everything then.”
He further said: “Google has promised to help us on this matter, but if they do not, we have another project running by which we can check anything in our own way.”
In the wake of worldwide protests, the video clip was removed from YouTube domains in India, Egypt and Libya. The Afghan and Pakistan governments also blocked YouTube.
Mir Muhammad Masud, MD of internet gateway Mango Telecom Services, said they acted as per the directives from the BTRC and from now on Bangladeshis would be able to access YouTube.
He said the BTRC had informed them of its decision on phone and would later send an official letter.
YouTube was accessible from yesterday evening.