Bangladesh will push Facebook to respond quickly to complaints, says Tarana

The government will sit with Facebook Inc to impress on the social media giant the need for them to respond rapidly to any complaint, State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim has said.

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She spoke of the move in reply to a query from journalists at the end of a programme at a Dhaka hotel on Wednesday.

Facebook’s Asia Pacific region policy advisor will arrive in Dhaka either on Dec 6 or 7 for the discussion, she said.

She then explained the need for swift response from the Facebook.

“If after we lodge a complaint that a girl in a village will commit suicide and they take four days to remove the objectionable post, then the girl cannot be saved.”

“How they can help us in dealing with such matters and how quickly they can take notice of our complaints will be the key issues,” she said.

She underlined the need for an agreement with Facebook.

“Seventy-three percent of our women are now victims of cyber violence. But Facebook never gives due importance to our complaints since we don’t have any agreement with them in this regard. But they will have to take into account that our women are being victimised.”

“We have to sign an agreement with the Facebook,” she emphasised.

Facebook on Tuesday responded to the Bangladesh government’s proposal for discussions sent on Monday.

On being asked what other issues would be highlighted, the minister said, “We need to define what defamatory or violent contents are in the present socio-economic context.”

“Women are being targeted through Facebook. But our complaints in this regard are not heeded.  Religious sentiments are being hurt in many ways. We will discuss all these issues,” she said.

She said all the Facebook-related problems and incidents would be highlighted in a Powerpoint presentation.

On the issue of Facebook being accessed in Bangladesh through proxy server, she said people should accept the ‘temporary trouble’ for the greater good.