Call for unblocking Facebook gets louder

A group of people under the banner of Writer-Artist-Online Businessperson-Activist Forum yesterday said blocking social media was not a solution but rather the law enforcement agencies should enhance their capability to catch culprits.

Staging a sit-in in front of the capital's Bangladesh National Museum on the demand for "Free Facebook in Bangladesh", they said entrepreneurs were incurring huge losses as they were using social media to reach consumers.

Facebook and online messaging and calling services WhatsApp and Viber have been blocked by the government since November 18.

According to the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), around 7,500 active Facebook pages were doing business in the country, and there were 600 web pages also running online businesses. And all of them were affected by the suspension of Facebook in Bangladesh.

Robin Ahsan, editor of Sraban Prokashoni, said, "Many small businessmen used to sell T-shirts, saris, books etc on Facebook. Due to the ban, their business is suspended."

He claimed that the ban was also pushing people towards porn sites and illegal VoIP businesses were benefiting.

Owner of Shadashidhe Sayeed Uzzal said he depended on Facebook to sell clothes. "Now, I have to sit idle," he added.

A student of Tejgaon College Mokhlesur Rahman Sagar said how one would use Facebook depended on the individual and they would be responsible for their activities, not the media.