‘A threat to freedom of expression’

The new draft social media regulation poses a threat to freedom of expression, said Global Network Initiative (GNI), a collective of top tech companies and rights bodies of the world.

The collective's members include Meta, Microsoft, Uber, Zoom, Telenor Group, Yahoo, Google, Nokia, Vodafone, Verizon, Human Rights Watch, Wikimedia, Committee to Protect Journalists and more.

GNI made these remarks in a letter sent to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on March 9.

"We are concerned by the very broad scope of the bill, from the companies and content it covers, to the significant, often-vaguely defined obligations and enforcement authorities, to potential 'traceability' and data-sharing provisions that may infringe on privacy rights," said the letter.

The statement expressed alarm at the fact that the regulation includes a "sweeping range of content and conduct that intermediaries would be obliged to prohibit under their own 'rules and regulation'", including prohibitions on information that is 'insulting,' 'hurts religious values or sentiment,' or 'misleads the addressee as to the origin of the message'."

The statement points out that social media intermediaries must appoint a locally-based compliance officer who can be held culpable for not doing "due diligence" in making sure that the regulation is followed.

"However, the draft regulation fails to define what 'due diligence' means in this context, leaving intermediaries clueless as to how to protect themselves and their employees from such liability," said GNI.

The association also said the harsh penalties proposed in the regulation will put undue pressure on companies to restrict content or share user data. The statement also expressed concern about the requirements to break, or compromise end-to-end encryption in secure messaging.