Facebook assured to remove offensive posts: Mustafa Jabbar

Facebook has promised to take immediate action to remove posts - including offensive images and information - intended for militancy, terrorism and communalism, said Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Mustafa Jabbar.

The minister expressed this hope following a meeting with a three-member delegation of Facebook (META) at his office at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Simon Milner, Facebook's vice president for public policy in the Asia-Pacific region, led the delegation which included Facebook's Public Policy Affairs Officers for Bangladesh, Sabnam Rashid Dia, and Miss Roza O.

Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Director General Brig Gen Nasim Parvez were present on the occasion.

The minister of posts and telecommunications informed the delegation that Facebook was being used to spread rumors to create militancy, terrorism, communalism, anarchy and social unrest in the country.

He called on the social media platform to pay special attention to this issue and suggested using artificial intelligence to remove objectionable data and identify the users.

He also suggested setting up a Facebook office in Bangladesh.

Minister Mustafa Jabbar apprised the delegation of the progress being made in the digital technology sector under the visionary and wise leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said that the last thirteen and a half years have witnessed a revolutionary change in the development of digital technology.

Mustafa Jabbar, also a pioneer of the development of digital technology in Bangladesh, highlighted the progress of the 2018 bilateral meeting with Facebook in Barcelona and said that the mutual relations with Facebook has progressed as expected in the past few years and it is continuing.