The government will send letters to the authorities of search engine giant Google and video-sharing website YouTube about the country’s cyber security issues after meeting Facebook officials, said State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim yesterday.
“We will urge Google and YouTube authorities to set up admin panels of the two sites in Bangladesh and also a local office. We will also request to remove controversial contents from the sites,” she said.
Tarana earlier sent a letter to the Facebook authorities, informing them of the government’s interest in signing a deal to take measures for ensuring cyber security in the country.
Facebook agreed to meet Bangladesh officials as the company’s Public Policy Director for India and South Asia Akhi Das replied to Tarana’s email.
“Akhi will be invited to Dhaka,” Tarana said, adding that the meeting might be held on Sunday or Monday.
Bangladesh’s around 18 million Facebook users have been unable to directly browse the most popular social networking site since November 18, the day the apex court rejected review petitions of notorious war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, as the government blocked it citing security grounds.
The government also blocked two other popular apps - WhatsApp and Viber.
