Desk Report
he Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Bangladesh government to immediately withdraw or substantially revise proposed amendments to the Cyber Protection Act, warning that the draft legislation could transform routine journalism into a serious criminal offense.
Under the proposed provisions, journalists could face prison sentences of up to 10 years for publishing information that government officials characterize as “unverified.” The amendments would also reportedly authorize state agencies to obstruct journalistic work and revoke the registration of media organizations.
“The sweeping amendments to Bangladesh’s Cyber Protection Act are so broad” that they could be used to suppress legitimate reporting, CPJ warned in its statement. The organization called on the government to abandon the proposed changes or revise them in accordance with international standards protecting freedom of expression and the press.
The warning follows mounting criticism from Bangladeshi journalists and media policymakers, who say the draft could recreate and in some respects expand the coercive machinery associated with the former Digital Security Act.
The central concern is the proposal to punish the dissemination of supposedly false, distorted or unverified information. Journalism frequently involves reporting developing events, allegations, leaked documents and claims that authorities may dispute. Allowing government agencies to decide what qualifies as “verified” would therefore give officials effective control over which accounts of public events may be published.
Such provisions could be especially damaging to investigative reporting. Stories involving corruption, abuse of power or security agencies often rely on confidential sources and information that the state has not officially acknowledged. Under the proposed framework, the absence of government confirmation could itself be used to portray accurate but inconvenient reporting as a criminal act.
The power to block journalists from working and deregister news outlets would carry consequences beyond the prosecution of individual reporters. It could enable authorities to shut down an entire organization over disputed coverage, encouraging editors and media owners to avoid politically sensitive stories.