(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
The Bangladesh government has introduced regulations, similar to
the one brought by India's IT rules, for social and digital media,
including Over-the-top (OTT) platforms, Trend reports citing
Business Standard .
The Bangladesh telecommunication Regulatory Commission
Regulation (BTRC), 2021 was drafted so as to provide a complaint
mechanism wherein users of digital platforms can register their
complaints and get them addressed within a defined timeline,
according to MediaNama.
This aims to 'tackle content or activity that harms individual
users or threatens our way of life in Bangladesh.'
Earlier this month, a more elaborate draft containing the rules
was published, which has sought opinions from the public and
stakeholders.
The regulator explains several terms in the draft rules to
provide context on what will be covered by the rules once they are
notified by the government. It further lays down a provision for a
Code of Ethics to be drafted by the Bangladesh Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting.
The rules will require OTT platforms to register after gaining
security clearance and they will also have to abide by rules on
obscenity, defamation, and hurting religious sentiment, the Dhaka
Tribune newspaper reported.
Bangladesh's secretary of the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting Mokbul Hossain said that the draft guideline would be
placed at an inter-ministerial meeting after the public and
stakeholders had given their opinions. 'Hopefully, we will finalize
it by this month or the next,' Hossain told Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr. Hasan
Mahmud said OTT platforms were growing in demand, but there was
currently no regulatory system for their content.
'It is easy to censor cinemas as just 50 to 100 films are
released every year, but it is very tough to censor the hundreds of
programs on OTT platforms through the censor board,' Mahmud was
quoted as saying by the Tribune.
Last February, the Indian government had introduced new IT
Rules. According to these rules, the social media companies are
required to appoint India based grievance redressal officer,
compliance officer and nodal officer to enable the users of social
media, who have a grievance to have recourse for its redressal.
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