Nineteen organizations working on rights and media issues have called for major changes to the proposed Cyber Protection Act, 2026, warning that several provisions could undermine freedom of expression, media independence and citizens’ rights.
The call came at a roundtable in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, on Sunday, where the organizations raised concerns over the proposed legislation.
At the discussion on proposed amendments to the law, speakers urged the government to remove offenses related to defamation, maligning, bullying, rumors and misinformation while retaining safeguards against arbitrary content restrictions.
The event was organized by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), BRAC, the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad and 15 other organizations.
Manab Zamin Editor and Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) President Matiur Rahman Chowdhury urged the government not to restrict the media, stressing that criticism of the government must be distinguished from cybercrime.
“While in power, governments often believe they need tough laws to silence criticism or ‘teach their opponents a lesson’. But they forget that once they lose power, a new government can use those same laws against them,” he said.
Matiur Rahman Chowdhury added: “Please do not tie our hands again. If you tie our hands, it will be to your own detriment. I will no longer be able to write for you. One day, you will have to come back to us.”
He said legislation was necessary to combat cybercrime, but criticism of the government was an essential part of a democratic society. Failure to distinguish between the two, he warned, would create further risks.
He also questioned a provision that could allow a newspaper or online news outlet to be shut down over an offense committed by an individual. Expressing concern over political influence in law enforcement, he warned that a phone call from a ruling party leader at the local level could lead to someone's arrest.
Questioning the proposed law's definition of misinformation, Chowdhury said a report could be labeled false or defamatory simply because someone disliked its contents. He called for clear criteria to determine what constituted intentional misinformation.
He also opposed granting mobile courts the authority to try journalists for cyber offenses, questioning whether such a measure was compatible with a democratic society.
Chowdhury urged the government to hold discussions across districts, consult people from all sections of society and ensure broader representation on committees involved in drafting the law.
TIB raises concerns over concentration of power
TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said the proposed legislation combined 3 distinct areas: cybercrime, cybersecurity and the exercise of human rights in cyberspace.
Bringing these areas under a single framework, he argued, risked prioritizing the concentration of state power over the protection of citizens' rights, particularly freedom of speech, expression and the media.
He said successive governments had continued a pattern of increasingly restrictive applications of cyber laws, raising concerns that human rights and freedom of expression were being criminalized.
Iftekharuzzaman also said 44 cases were filed under the law between March and September this year, accusing 101 people, of whom 64 had been arrested.
He questioned the composition of an expert committee formed by the government. While welcoming technical expertise in areas such as technology and engineering, he said the process must also reflect human rights concerns and include independent experts and representatives of broader sections of society.
He argued that tackling misinformation through restrictive criminal laws ran counter to international best practices, which emphasize cooperation with technology platforms, rights-based community standards, and greater transparency and accountability in algorithms.
The government had previously given verbal assurances that laws would not be misused against journalists, he said, but such assurances had failed to prevent abuses.
Experts warn of return to restrictive laws
Fowzia Afroz, Bangladesh head of the Tech Global Institute, presented the findings and said Bangladesh's digital legal framework had undergone 6 changes over the past 2 decades, with another amendment now proposed, yet many of the same restrictive provisions continued to reappear.
Tracing the legal framework from the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006, and its Section 57, through the Digital Security Act, 2018, the Cyber Security Act, 2023, and subsequent cyber legislation, she said the pattern of restricting freedom of expression had persisted across successive governments.
Citing information published in newspapers, Afroz said 451 journalists were sued under the Digital Security Act between October 2018 and September 2023, including 255 over their reporting, while 97 were arrested.
She said provisions dealing with defamation, false information and social humiliation remained problematic because such terms could be vaguely defined and used to criminalize expression.
Afroz also raised concerns about making speech-related offenses non-bailable and allowing arrests without warrants.
“Twenty years later, we seem to have returned, to some extent, to where we were in 2006,” she said.
The organizations recommended deleting Section 25, which covers offenses related to defamation, maligning and bullying, and Section 26Ka, which addresses rumors and misinformation.
They called for retaining the safeguards, tribunal oversight and scope for challenging decisions under Sections 8(3) and 8(4), while amending Section 8(2) to remove vague grounds for content restrictions and additional content-blocking powers.
They also proposed amending Section 12 to restore the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, remove 5 additional government officials from the relevant committee and include independent experts.
The organizations recommended limiting Section 29 to ensure that speech-related offenses do not lead to licensing and registration penalties. They also called for removing the authority of mobile courts to try cyber offenses and deleting Section 46 to prevent the proposed speech-related offenses from being made cognizable.
The recommendations aim to ensure that efforts to protect cyberspace do not become a means of restricting legitimate expression or exposing journalists and citizens to arbitrary legal action.
The roundtable was moderated by Iftekharuzzaman. Other participants included Dhaka Union of Journalists President Md Shahidul Islam, former interim government press secretary and Daily Owad Editor Shafiqul Alam, Online Editors Forum Convener Sharifuzzaman Pintu, ABnews24 Editor Shahin Chowdhury and other representatives from the 19 organizations.
