Only a few days ago, Facebook’s response to requests from the government was perfunctory; against ten requests, only 2-3 were kept.

There have been many instances when they did not provide any information at all.

However, the situation has changed; Facebook now responds swiftly, say a few sources in government

Bangladesh is a massive market for the social media platform; each year they are taking away a staggering amount of money from Bangladesh. So, the fear of losing such a burgeoning market has prompted Facebook to take requests from the government seriously.

Telecoms and ICT minister Mustafa Jabbar told Bangla Tribune: “We have broken the ice with Facebook.”

Facebook is concerned if they are breaking laws of any country so if a request is send stating that a certain link has breached a law of the state, they take action, he said.

“We have had several meetings with Facebook and they have agreed that they would honour the local laws of Bangladesh.”

Facebook has said that if the government inform them of a link which has flouted the law then they will take immediate action, according to Jabbar. 

The minister also said there would be a joint workshop with Facebook on how to safeguard the accounts of Bangladeshis.

He also alluded to the slowing down of internet on Aug 4, saying: “I told Facebook that if they did not listen to us then we would shut it down.”

“This worked and an official of Facebook immediately came from Singapore and assured me that they would cooperate with us.”

Facebook is already engaged in social activities in Bangladesh like blood donation; soon they will have the second edition of ‘Boost your business’ workshop here.