CID urges TikTok to strengthen measures against fake content and gambling promotions

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police has asked TikTok to enhance its existing systems for detecting and removing fake information, pornography, gambling advertisements, cyberbullying, and recruitment videos used by fraudsters. The popular platform has also been advised to introduce in-app warnings, safety campaigns, and initiatives to increase parental awareness to better protect teenage users from risky challenges, dangerous stunts, and harmful content.

The directive was conveyed during a meeting with TikTok’s Dubai-based delegation, held as part of preparations to curb digital threats and misinformation ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election.

The meeting took place on Wednesday, 26 November, at the CID headquarters in Malibagh, Dhaka. Discussions included establishing special protocols to swiftly identify and remove deepfakes and other AI-generated misleading content.

The session was chaired by CID Chief Additional IGP Md. Shibgat Ullah, with senior officials from cyber intelligence, criminal investigation, and digital risk management units present.

Representing TikTok were Sohaib Khan, Regional Lead of the Law Enforcement Outreach Team; Ferdous Muttakin, Head of Government Relations (South Asia); and Adil Shah, Head of Legal (South Asia).

Speaking about the meeting, CID’s Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Jasim Uddin said that both sides discussed launching a formal communication channel and an effective escalation system between Bangladesh Police and TikTok. The conversation also focused on developing a coordinated action plan to strengthen 24/7 online monitoring by CID’s Cyber Police Centre (CPC) to combat misinformation and disinformation ahead of the election. TikTok has reportedly begun working on a structured framework to support this effort.

Notably, last year TikTok and its parent company ByteDance were accused of misleading authorities in the U.S. state of Iowa regarding the spread of drugs, nudity, alcohol, and obscene content on the platform. In September, police in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province arrested TikTok star Alisha for allegedly posting vulgar content. In Bangladesh as well, allegations of obscene content being spread on TikTok under the guise of entertainment are not new- yet the platform continues to gain popularity as such videos often go viral.

DBTech/BT/EH/OR