Bangladesh briefly blocks Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms amid protests

 

As protests against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government persist, reports have emerged that the country briefly imposed restrictions on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook.

According to Global Eyes News, the restrictions were implemented on August 2, effectively blocking users from accessing these social networking sites across Bangladesh. This decision came shortly after Turkey announced its own ban on Instagram following a lawmaker's criticism of information shared about the death of Hamas’ chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Amid the unrest, Bangladeshi news outlet The Daily Star reported that several mobile internet users in Bangladesh experienced outages on Facebook and Messenger.

This is not the first time internet access has been disrupted in Bangladesh. On July 31, the government unblocked social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube only after a curfew was relaxed, allowing for a longer daytime break.

The internet disruptions occurred amid nationwide protests triggered by the Hasina administration’s proposal of a controversial quota system, which aimed to provide government job reservations for individuals whose family members participated in Bangladesh’s liberation movement.

According to The Daily Star, an agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs instructed mobile operators via text message to enforce the new ban. A source told the news outlet that Telegram, a messaging platform allowing large file transfers, was also blocked for the first time.

Meanwhile, another Bangladeshi news outlet, The Dhaka Tribune, reported that users in Bangladesh regained access to Facebook and Messenger nearly six hours after the outage. Mobile service operators confirmed they were instructed to resume mobile data on Friday evening.

Sources informed The Dhaka Tribune that the ministry was conducting a “filtering process,” causing the internet issues during the restoration process.