Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has called on Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp—to take more effective and responsible steps in combating hate speech and misinformation that threaten social harmony.
During a meeting on Wednesday at the State Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka with Meta’s Vice President for Public Policy in the South Pacific region, Simon Milner, and Public Policy Manager Ruzan Sarwar, the Chief Adviser stated, “Misinformation is a major challenge today. You must find realistic and effective ways to fight it.”
He added, “Bangladesh is a densely populated country. A single piece of false information or a provocative word can shake the entire nation. Some individuals deliberately exploit this. Therefore, upholding ethical standards in platform governance is crucial—without it, the situation can become dangerous.”
In response, Simon Milner said Meta is prepared to work closely with the Government of Bangladesh to counter disinformation and propaganda ahead of the upcoming national elections. “We’ve had a dedicated team working for Bangladesh over the past five years. Recently, we have also held meetings with several government agencies and human rights organizations,” he said.
Faiz Ahmad Tayyab, Special Assistant on Post, Telecommunications, and ICT to the Chief Adviser, urged Meta to give greater attention to the Bengali language. “Meta’s AI and language models are still heavily English-dependent, which isn’t helpful for countries like ours. Content moderation in Bengali needs to be significantly strengthened,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, during a separate meeting between Meta representatives and the ICT Division, the government requested greater investment in artificial intelligence and sentiment analysis for the Bengali language. It was also proposed that Meta hire a larger number of Bengali-speaking content reviewers to detect fake news more effectively.
The ICT Division also called for the recruitment of local Bangladeshi content reviewers who are sensitive to the country’s language, culture, and social norms. In addition, the need to improve service quality through the installation of local cache servers and edge routers, optimize bandwidth, and enhance user data protection was emphasized.
In another meeting held on Tuesday, representatives from the police and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) requested Meta to streamline the process of swiftly removing harmful posts to protect public safety. Law enforcement agencies also urged Meta to respond faster and more effectively to threats, disinformation, public agitation, and sensitive issues such as suicide, with preventive measures in place.
Stakeholders believe that these ongoing discussions represent a critical step in strengthening and localizing Meta’s role in ensuring electoral integrity, social stability, and digital safety in Bangladesh.