Cyber security act: Draft changes echo DSA-era restrictions
3 HOUR(s)•BANGLADESH
Zyma Islam
Zyma Islam
The government has proposed amendments to the Cyber Security Act 2026, criminalising defamation and introducing prison terms and fines for “humiliation” and “bullying”, significantly expanding the range of online expression punishable under the law.
If adopted, the changes, proposed by the International Crimes Tribunal Division, would mark a shift back towards curbs associated with the Awami League-era Digital Security Act (DSA), which faced widespread criticism over its restrictive provisions.
The draft amendments were uploaded on the ICT Division’s website last night.
The current law is based on the interim government’s Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025, which was adopted as a law on April 10 this year, followed by an amendment that was passed in parliament on June 30.
The latest amendments were proposed after the law took effect.
Under the proposed amendments, defamation would carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a Tk 20 lakh fine. The penalties would double if the offence was committed against a woman or minor.
“Humiliation” and “bullying” would carry the same penalties.
The same penalties would also apply to sexual harassment, sextortion, child sexual abuse, revenge porn, blackmail and the publication of content defined as obscene.
The proposed defamation provision would reintroduce an offence that also existed under the DSA, but would prescribe a harsher maximum punishment than the DSA did. Under the DSA, defamation carried a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a Tk 5 lakh fine.
The proposed amendments define “digital defamation” as “any information, data, statement, audio, video, audiovisual image, still image or graphics circulated or displayed with the intention of damaging a person’s reputation, dignity or character — which is false, distorted, misleading, insulting or harmful, and is recorded or edited through digital or electronic means, or created, edited or altered using artificial intelligence”.
“Humiliation” is defined as “undermining a person’s dignity, honour, reputation or social standing through words, conduct, publication, gestures or actions that cause the person to appear humiliated, insignificant, contemptible or disreputable to others, or damage their social standing or reputation”.
“Bullying” is defined as “any intentional, planned and repeated conduct or act by a person or group, using their actual or perceived power, influence or dominance, directed at another person or group through physical, verbal, social, digital or other means, which causes physical or psychological harm or distress, intimidation, or circumstances of social exclusion, isolation or loneliness”.
Meanwhile, the proposed amendments would also criminalise spreading rumours or fake news, with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a Tk 40 lakh fine. The DSA did not separately criminalise spreading fake news.
“For this section, ‘rumour’ means any unsupported or unverified information, news or claim that causes, or has the potential to cause, confusion, panic, agitation or social unrest among the public,” the amendment states.
Similarly, fake news is defined as “any false, distorted or misleading information deliberately created, published or disseminated with the intention of misleading, deceiving or harming a person, the public, an institution or the state”.
The proposed amendments would also empower mobile courts to deal with several offences under the law.
Mobile courts would be able to impose sentences for sexual harassment, blackmailing, publishing obscene or defamatory content, humiliation and bullying, except when the victim is a woman or minor. In such cases, the offence would have to be dealt with by a cyber tribunal.
Cyber tribunals would also deal with spreading rumours and fake news, along with offences such as hacking, cyber terrorism, digital theft and unlawful entry into critical information infrastructure.
Mobile courts would have jurisdiction over offences including cyber fraud, malware infection, data theft and physical harm to digital infrastructure.
Another proposed amendment would expand the authorities empowered to seek the blocking of digital content.
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Under the current act, only law enforcement agencies can request, through the director-general, that the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission block content.
The current grounds for blocking include content that “undermines the country’s integrity, security, defence or public order; contains expressions of religious or communal hatred or ethnic hostility that incites violence; or provides instructions for disorder or criminal activities”.
The proposed amendment would extend this power beyond law enforcement agencies to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and any other agency or force empowered by the government.
The grounds for blocking content would also be expanded. Under the proposed amendment, content could be blocked not only after an offending act has taken place, but also when there are grounds to suspect that such an act could occur.
In addition to the existing grounds, the proposed amendment would allow content to be blocked if it is defamatory towards any person or institution or derogatory towards the state.
The existing cyber security lawrequires blocked content to be publicly disclosed. The proposed amendment would remove this requirement.
Another proposed amendment would allow the registration or licence of a company found to have committed an offence under the law to be cancelled, or its activities to be suspended. The current law contains no such provision.
Tech Global Institute said the amendments could significantly expand state powers over online speech.
In a statement, it described the amendments as part of a “troubling pattern across successive governments, dating back to the Digital Security Act [DSA] in 2018”.
“The draft introduces vague and subjective concepts such as ‘defamation,’ ‘belittling,’ and ‘rumour’ that risk criminalising legitimate expression, including criticism of public officials and state institutions, satire, public-interest journalism, and political speech.
“Violations carry heavy penalties and imprisonment, while interpretation would largely rest with state authorities, creating enormous scope for selective and abusive enforcement,” it added.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday said the proposed Cyber Security (Amendment) Act 2026 will help restore decency in the digital space, protect women and young people from cyberbullying and ensure professional safeguards for journalists while preventing any misuse of the law.
During a courtesy meeting with a delegation of the International Republican Institute at his office at the Bangladesh Secretariat, he said, “Constructive criticism is not the same as character assassination or abusive language for political purposes.”
