It is unlikely that Bangladeshi social media users will get uninterrupted access to the platforms anytime soon, as the government has put in place strict blocking mechanisms until the tech companies comply.

The operators of the International Internet Gateway (IIG) have been ordered by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to block Facebook, the most popular app in the country with around 55 crore users, on the gateway devices, The Daily Star has learnt from sources familiar with the matter.

Other Meta platforms, such as Messenger and ByteDance’s WhatsApp and TikTok (the most popular social media and instant messaging apps) top the block list, the researchers said.

Social media platforms, especially Facebook and YouTube, are not adhering to Bangladesh’s laws, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for ICT, said on Wednesday.

“They also do not take into account the situation on the ground and thereby violate their own policies… Who will take the risk (of opening the social media platforms) in all this?”

The government will write to the platforms and ask for an explanation for their failure to comply with the orders.

“Access to the platforms will be reopened if they promise to comply with the demands,” Palak added.

However, Palak still uses Facebook extensively.

He was among the first to use Facebook after the government resumed broadband service in some areas on Tuesday.

Since then, he has posted dozens of messages on his verified Facebook page.

Palak was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, internet speeds improved yesterday after the BTRC ordered IIG operators to open up most cache servers hosting Google content, such as YouTube videos and Google search results.

Moreover, users will not experience any disruption in the free flow of internet as the traffic will undergo deep packet inspection (DPI) through Department of Telecommunications equipment previously installed in the IIG’s system, sources said.

The DPI acts as a guard checking the contents at a checkpoint.

While the government and the BTRC maintained that the internet outage was the result of an attack on data centres in the capital Mohakhali, people with knowledge of the matter said the outage was ordered by the government.

The Daily Star visited the data centres in question and found no signs of damage to the building they are housed in.

Data center officials also confirmed that there was no fire in the building. However, the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) building opposite the building was set on fire and that fire partially damaged some listening cables connected to the data centers.

On July 17, the government shut down mobile internet. Palak said this was “in light of the current crisis in the country and to stop the spread of fake news on social media.”

The next day the DDM building was set on fire.

Around 8 p.m., officials from the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh said the fire may have knocked out 30-40 percent of bandwidth, leaving some users disconnected and many with slow internet connections.

An hour later, all of Bangladesh was without internet.

On July 23, the government reopened broadband internet in some areas and the following day, connections were restored across the country on a trial basis.

However, mobile internet, used by around 14 crore subscribers, remains offline.