Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman has warned that enforcing a strict cyber law without ensuring accountability for social media platforms and their profit-driven algorithms will not be enough to curb misinformation and cybercrime.
He said passing the proposed Cyber Protection (Amendment) Act in its current controversial form, without considering stakeholders’ views, could undermine freedom of expression and ultimately backfire on the government.
He made the remarks on Sunday, October 18, at a consultation meeting held at TIB’s office in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, involving 19 civil society organisations and a recently formed media committee to discuss the proposed legislation.
Iftekharuzzaman said countries that had made progress in tackling misinformation had taken steps to ensure transparency and accountability in Meta’s algorithms.
He argued that the substantial profits social media platforms generate from engagement play a significant role in the spread of misinformation and fake news.
According to him, Meta promotes confrontational and violent content to expand its business while censoring secular or reasoned discussions. He warned that an unhealthy alliance between political power and technology businesses was undermining citizens’ fundamental rights.
Imposing legal restrictions on ordinary citizens without ensuring platform accountability would not provide a sustainable solution, he added.
Daily Weather editor Shafiqul Alam supported the call for greater accountability from social media platforms, particularly Facebook.
He cited the 2012 attacks on the Buddhist community in Ramu, during which 25 pagodas were vandalised, the spread of incitement surrounding violence against Rohingya people in Myanmar in 2017, and more recent incidents in which organised groups allegedly used Facebook to mobilise mobs that beat people to death.
Alam said the lack of an effective mechanism for immediate coordination with Facebook had made it difficult to prevent such violence.
He said there was broad agreement on removing Section 26(a) of the proposed Cyber Protection Act, decriminalising defamation under Section 25, preventing misuse of Section 8(3), and scrapping provisions allowing mobile courts to try journalists.
However, he stressed the need to find ways to protect people from character assassination and unchecked misinformation spread by social media influencers and YouTubers.
Citing the United Kingdom and the United States, Alam suggested bringing defamation under civil rather than criminal law, with substantial financial penalties for those who deliberately damage others’ reputations through false information.
He said major newspapers abroad set aside substantial budgets to cover potential damages in defamation cases and argued that Bangladesh should introduce a similar system requiring those found responsible to pay significant compensation.
Dhaka Union of Journalists President Shahidul Islam expressed concern over several provisions of the proposed law and the powers it would grant to investigators.
He said the draft appeared designed primarily to protect people in power and could severely restrict the work of journalists and media organisations. He also raised concerns about provisions that could allow an entire media outlet to be shut down because of an individual’s offence or mistake.
Islam warned that investigators could be given sweeping authority to seize a media organisation’s data centres and other technological equipment based merely on suspicion, potentially crippling an entire institution.
He also criticised the absence of a clear definition of defamation in the proposed legislation and called for a law that takes into account the practical experiences and views of journalists working at the grassroots level.
Sharifuzzaman Pintu, editor and publisher of Rajneeti.com, raised concerns about immunity provisions and vague definitions of offences in the draft law.
He said previous legislation, including the Information and Communication Technology Act and the Digital Security Act, had also raised concerns about misuse. He called for an explicit guarantee that journalism and mainstream media would not be subjected to arbitrary application of the proposed law.
Pintu also questioned the transparency of online content-blocking procedures and the proposed structure of the National Cybersecurity Council.
Under the proposed arrangement, the prime minister would head the council, which would include five ministers, nine secretaries and heads of various intelligence agencies. Pintu argued that the structure lacked adequate representation from civil society and sufficient institutional checks and balances.
He called for human rights activists and representatives of journalists’ organisations to make up at least one-third of the council’s membership.
In his concluding remarks, Iftekharuzzaman said civil society organisations and the media shared a common interest in protecting freedom of expression and press freedom.
He urged them to strengthen coordination and unity, and called for restrictive provisions to be removed from the proposed law and the legislation to be revised through consultations with civil society groups and media professionals.