DHAKA, April 1 — A Bangladeshi minister yesterday said the country would temporarily suspend services Facebook and YouTube if they don’t obey government instructions to control "disinformation”, Xinhua quoted the national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) report.

The country’s Liberation War Affairs Minister and Chairman of Cabinet Committee on Law and Order AKM Mozammel Haque announced this to the media after a meeting of the committee.

Highlighting the decisions of the meeting, he said that the social media platforms are not sincere about the government’s recommendations on various issues.

As their head offices are not in Bangladesh, it has become difficult for the government to check rumours and control cybercrimes in the platforms, he added.

The minister said the platforms will be informed about their noncompliance and then, if they don’t comply, the government might resort to advertising in the newspaper mentioning their noncompliance before taking any action.

He said the public notices will be served to the media giants so that they can’t complain about curbing their rights and thus, the government won’t be held responsible. — Bernama