Rights group criticises draft regulations on social media, OTT platforms 

Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRFB) has criticised the proposed draft regulations on "Digital, Social Media and OTT Platform 2021,"terming it contradictory to constitutional rights.

In a press release sent to the media on Thursday, the coalition of 20 human rights and development organisations, also expressed concerns that it has great scope for being misused like the Digital Security Act (DSA).

While the rights platform welcomed the initiative of the authorities to properly manage social and digital media and over the top (OTT) platforms, it cited instances of misapplications of the ICT Act and later the DSA Act, which, according to the forum, have already narrowed down the field of media and freedom of expression.

"Adequate open discussion and careful review with all stakeholders is required before formulating such regulations," Tamanna Haque Riti, co-ordinator of HRFB, told The Business Standard (TBS).

Otherwise, even if the regulation is made with good intentions, it is likely to be misused with its various loopholes, the forum said.

Member organisations of the forum expressed concern about a number of aspects of the regulations, including the extent of their use, applicability, lack of clarity about terminologies, registration provisions, grounds for removal of published content, and provisions imposing arbitrary restrictions on freedom of speech.

Moreover, there are many similarities between the draft regulation and the "Over the Top (OTT) Content Based Service Provision and Management and Advertising Policy 2021" (draft) enacted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which may create practical conflicts, the forum pointed out, and added that it is not clear to them why two separate provisions or policies are being formulated on the same subject.

HRFB also said the law ministry already has specific departments and law commissions to enact and formulate laws and the BTRC's responsibility is to oversee compliance, to ensure that laws and policies are properly implemented.

The forum added that since many words and sentences used in the policy/regulations have not been defined well, they may create opportunities for misapplication as well as ambiguity.

For example, HRFB said, there is a need to have clear definitions of many terms and clauses on a variety of issues including material that hurts religious feelings, sectarianism, indigenous cultures, and social values. At the same time, regarding exceptions and in cases where it is not possible to define, the provision needs to be made accessible and comprehensible to the public by clear interpretation.

Above all, HRFB said the government's commitment to building a digital Bangladesh and achieving economic prosperity through digitalization, is not consistent with this regulation.

The forum also called for ensuring a thorough review, and arranging open discussion with concerned stakeholders and other parties.