Bangladesh orders telecoms division to block 191 online portals over ‘anti-state news’

The government plans to stop the circulation of “misleading anti-state news”, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud says

The government has ordered the telecoms regulator to block 191 online news portals over “misleading anti-state content”.

Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said in parliament on Monday that they sent a letter to the Posts and Telecommunications Division, instructing it to take steps to cancel the domain of these news websites.

The government took the decision following a report by an intelligence agency, he said. He was answering a question from Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque Chunnu.

Currently, 162 online news portals, online editions of 169 newspapers and online portals of 15 news broadcasters have been operating in the country after completing registration from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, according to the minister.

A total of 1,141 monthly, weekly and daily newspapers are being published from Dhaka.

Among them, 509 are dailies, 345 are weekly publications and 287 are published every month.

Currently, four state-owned, and 34 private broadcasters have been operating in the country.

“The TV channels are operating according to the National Broadcasting Policy-2014, which has a clear directive of stopping the spread of inappropriate culture,” the information minister said.