Bangladesh has blocked Facebook and some mobile messaging apps for an undeclared amount of time. According to authorities, this is due to a home security risk. Some people, however, have bypassed the restriction, raising uncertainties regarding the effectiveness of such activity.
Bangladesh Major Social Media and Messaging Apps
Bangladeshi authorities have blocked Facebook, Carrier, Viber, WhatsApp, Line and also Tango after the nation’s highest court upheld death penalties on November 18 against two top opposition leaders for crimes committed during the Bangladesh 1971 war of independence. Comparable rulings have actually caused fatal protests in the past. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hinted at this move a week ago, citing home security reasons.
Confirming the ban, Sarowar Alam, an official of the nation’s Net regulatory authority BTRC claimed that the government has made a decision to suspend the operation of 6 social networking platforms. To their dismay, some people have bypassed this ban.
No Internet Connection for More than an Hour, Country-Wide
There was no internet connection in Bangladesh for more than an hour on Wednesday when the restriction was enforced. The government claims that it meant to only block certain services, but that something backfired. In any case, a good number of internet users in the country still managed to get on Facebook – once the internet was brought back – and made posts notifying people on ways to bypass the government’s restriction on the social networks.
Bangladesh Celebrities Tell People How to Fight Back
A. R. Rahman, one of one of the most prominent Facebook customers in Bangladesh with more than 250,000 fans, created on the network that he had neglected the ban by using a Proxy web server that showed his online place somewhere in Papua New Guinea, while he was actually in Dhaka.
