Mobile internet users in Bangladesh regained access to their Facebook and Messenger accounts nearly six hours after an outage on Friday.
Officials of mobile service operators confirmed they were instructed to resume mobile data in the evening.
Around noon, an agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs had instructed mobile operators via text message to enforce a new ban, according to media reports.
The decision coincided with students' nationwide prayer and march scheduled for Friday, protesting the killings and arrests of activists involved in the quota reform movement.
On July 31, the government unblocked social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube as authorities relaxed a curfew with longer daytime breaks.
Mobile internet services, used by 127 million subscribers, were initially blocked from July 17 as violence intensified. A day later, broadband internet was also blocked, severely affecting public life and a wide range of economic activities, including utility bill payments, online banking, international communications, clearance of goods from ports, and digital commerce.
The government restored broadband internet on a limited scale on July 23. Mobile internet was resumed on July 28 after more than 10 days of outage. Social media platforms Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, and YouTube were resumed two days later.
On Friday, Telegram, a messaging platform that allows users to send large files, was also apparently blocked. Some users reported being unable to access these apps as of 12pm before they lost access. Sources said the filtering process takes time to be fully enforced.
