Bangladesh Blocks Over 2,200 Gambling Websites

The country of Bengal, better known as the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, has launched a severe crackdown on Monday, February 18th to deal with “indecent content,” a report reads.

In this concentrated effort, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission shut down over 2,200 gambling websites, 15,000 adult hubs and even two video sharing apps, found in direct violation of the country’s Internet regulations.

One week earlier, BTRC confirmed that around 176 gambling platforms had been prohibited, including 1,279 pornographic streaming channels, whose number is on constant rise in this region.

For the Benefit of Youngsters

The country’s Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister, Mustafa Jabbar, published a post on social media, stating that the decision to stop so many websites from operating is introduced to benefit the younger generations. Providing a safer space on web cannot be achieved with such a large number of adult sites, as well as illegal gambling portals whose content is considered ‘illicit or even dangerous.’

Approximately 4,500 hubs have been closed down, preventing s from further accessing. Additionally, around 2,235 gaming platforms have also been barred, with extra 176 sites closed on Saturday, February 16th.

According to the press, two video sharing apps have been blocked for political reasons, as s utilized both services to mock the voting results (the elections were held on December 30th, 2018).

Moreover, other sources have confirmed voter rigging, and the opposition leader who lost the election, Kamal Hossain, received a lot of from his followers through streaming apps such as Tik Tok.

Important to realize, is that BTRC has already blocked video sharing apps three weeks before the election. Among these banned sites, whose number exceeded one hundred, was also dhakatimes.com – leading online newspaper in Bangladesh.

Unacceptable for Public Viewing

It remains unclear why the government shut down approximately 58 news-related websites, if offensive content was the issue; it is only after these sites went back online that the authorities turned to pornography, gambling and “questionable” apps.

To summarize, the use of Internet in Bangladesh is strictly controlled by the International Internet Gateway. The agency operates according under the directive of BTRC, which can, at any time, block all sites with offensive statements, information, etc. It is believed by the local media that gambling sites will not be restored and brought back online.

In the meantime, India is still unwilling to remove the gambling ban, although the country’s Union Minister of Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, made a statement that full-scale ban would put gambling under scrutiny.

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Source:

“Bangladesh commission blocks gambling, pornography websites”, calvinayre.com February 19, 2019.