Cyber Clean-Up: Interim Government Enforces Zero Tolerance on Gambling and Immoral Ads
The interim government has adopted a zero-tolerance stance to ensure that Bangladesh’s cyberspace remains safe, ethical, and youth-friendly. Following a letter sent from Bangladesh, ESPN Cricinfo has temporarily suspended gambling advertisements for visitors from this region. Similarly, tech giants Facebook/Meta and Google/YouTube will also be issued letters soon, confirmed Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser.
At the same time, he urged all national newspapers, online portals, regional media houses, digital advertising agencies, content creators, and celebrities to refrain from promoting or participating in advertisements related to gambling, betting, pornography, or any unethical products and services.
In a statement posted on his social media handle on Wednesday night, October 15, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb wrote that platforms “must avoid running default AdSense systems on websites, newspapers, news portals, and apps; instead, they should customize their ad settings to prevent gambling, pornographic, or related gaming ads and pop-ups.”
He also requested mobile companies, internet service providers (ISPs), Google AdSense, Meta Ads, and other international ad platforms to strictly comply with Bangladesh’s existing laws and ethical standards by enforcing local regulations, pop-up blocking, and filtering policies.
He further wrote, “Recently, it has been observed that some newspapers, online portals, technology platforms, internet service providers, commercial websites, mobile applications, sports sites, social media platforms, and even certain electronic media outlets are displaying advertisements and promotional content related to gambling, betting, and pornography. Such activities are in direct violation of the Cyber Security Act 2025 and the Pornography Control Act 2012 of Bangladesh. The government will maintain a zero-tolerance policy against gambling advertisements and will actively consider blocking websites that violate these laws, in consultation with public opinion. Public communication regarding such enforcement will also be carried out.”
