The High Court has directed the authorities concerned to remove all immoral and reprehensible video content and films from the country’s streaming platforms within seven days.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order after virtually hearing a writ petition filed in this regard on Wednesday.
The court also asked the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to submit a report on how the government collects revenue from the OTT (over-the-top) platforms within a month.
Earlier on Sunday, Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Tanvir Ahmed filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary order in this regard.
According to the writ, several OTT services operating in the country are streaming inappropriate content, both Bangladeshi and Indian in origin, and this is causing a deterioration in the moral values of the younger generation.
A total of eight individuals were made respondents for this writ that included, secretaries from the Post and Telecommunications Division, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and Ministry of Information as well as the chairman of BTRC, and inspector general of police (IGP).
On Wednesday, the lawyer sent a legal notice to the concerned government offices seeking removal of such content from all the streaming services of the country.
Later, he filed a writ with the High Court as no response or reply came forth from the recipients of the legal notice.
