Bangladesh unblocks Facebook

By: Rebekah Heacock on 7 June 2010
Posted in Bangladesh, Asia, Take-down, Political filtering, Social filtering

Last week we reported that Bangladesh had blocked Facebook for offensive content, including depictions of Mohammed and "obnoxious images" of the country's political officials as well as links to pornographic sites. According to the BBC, Facebook has taken down the content and the country has lifted the block.

The government plans to "strongly monitor" Facebook for offensive postings. According to the Daily Star, Facebook's chief security officer pledged to work with Bangladeshi officials to keep such content off the site in the future:

"I look forward to learning more about your local standards and working together to promote safe use of Facebook in Bangladesh," said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer of Facebook, said in a letter to BTRC [Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission].

"My team is responsible for managing law enforcement relations on Facebook and promoting a safe experience on the site for our users. I can be your main point of contact as we work through and establish detailed processes for removing troubling content in the future," Sullivan said in the letter.