Rohingya Crisis: Efforts on to tackle online propaganda
Bangladesh is stepping up measures to face hate campaigns and propaganda on the social media regarding the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis.
As many as 35 Facebook profiles and pages have so far been identified and the authorities concerned have already shut down three of those. Police say they will bring the propagandists to book after identity confirmation.
Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit's Deputy Commissioner (cyber-crime) Mohammad Alimuzzaman said the move was taken to stop instigation of violence inside Bangladesh.
“Ten Facebook profiles and two pages have been identified in last eight days. We have requested Facebook to shut them off. Until Friday three have been shut off,” he told The Daily Star.
According to the CTTC cyber crime unit officials, some of those profiles and pages are being operated from home and the rest from abroad. The law enforcers, in the mean time, will continue a close watch on the social media.
“Facebook often refuses to disclose detailed ID information for its policy, but we are trying for an alternative to tracing their locations,” he added.
More than 450,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh to escape persecution. While Bangladesh is offering them shelter, the authorities are alert to prevent any utilisation of the mass in militancy, terrorism or violence.
Sahely Ferdous, an assistant inspector general of police, told The Daily Star that security has been beefed up to avoid any unwanted incident. Also, special attention to the security of the Buddhist temples as well as community has been taken up.
Sahely Ferdous said instigators held for inflammatory posts on the social media would be sued under the ICT Act.
Law enforcers are also monitoring the Rohingya camp activities so that no criminal groups could get a chance to use the refugees in criminal activities. The police headquarters has already issued an alert so that no-one rents houses to the Rohingyas.
Speaking anonymously, a high official of an intelligence agency told The Daily Star that their prime target is to keep the Rohingya community in a certain area.
“We are also keeping an eye on the borderline areas so that no-one could manage any legal documents from any of our public offices as local residents,” the official added.
According to sources, law enforcers have already held a series of meetings regarding the Rohingya crisis and a huge number of intelligence officials have been deployed in Cox's Bazar and Teknaf for monitoring.
IGP AKM Shahidul Hoque at a briefing at his office recently said, “Our agents are alert... so that militants cannot infiltrate and provoke militancy among the Rohingyas.”