Home ›› 19 Nov 2021 ›› Front
A Bangladeshi lawyer has sent a legal notice to Meta (Facebook’s parent company) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and four government bodies for failing to regulate the social media platform as per the international and Bangladesh’s domestic laws.
The four government bodies are the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s chairman, the Posts and Telecommunications Division’s secretary, the Public Security Division’s senior secretary, and the Digital Security Agency’s director general.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Tapas Kanti Baul sent the notice on Thursday via registered mail on behalf of journalist Saleem Samad, Dr SM Masum Billah of the law department at Jagannath University, Advocate George Chowdhury, and Victor Ray.
Barrister Tapas told The Business Post the notice had asked the recipients to take action in line with international and Bangladesh’s domestic laws in order to prevent the misuse of Facebook.
“If no action is taken to regulate Facebook in Bangladesh within 72 hours after receiving the notice, further legal action will be taken by the petitioners,” he said. The notice said a Facebook post on October 13 this year claimed the Holy Quran was kept in a Hindu temple in Cumilla. As the news spread, communal violence broke out in 27 districts across the country.
Even before this, such incidents took place in Ramu of Cox’s Bazar, Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria, Shalla of Sunamganj, and various other Hindu communities in the country.
“The notice recipients completely failed to block or control such posts that are full of misinformation on Facebook. To prevent this, it is time to make Meta open an office in Bangladesh and to make them obey the fundamental rights as written in the Bangladesh constitution and the country’s existing laws,” Tapas said.
Furthermore, the four government bodies have a statutory duty under the Digital Security Act 2018 to stop the spread of all kinds of fake and distorted news and misinformation and also make Meta follow the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international laws, he further said.
