Two new draft regulations on digital, social and over-the-top (OTT) media platforms will choke the sector's growth, discourage foreign and local investment and likely violate fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and expression, said an expert yesterday. 

The requirement of appointing compliance and resident officers will increase business costs of the platforms, said Barrister Rashna Imam, who practices at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Imam was presenting a paper on "Regulation of Digital, Social Media & OTT Platforms: The need to strike the right balance" organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry at its office.

The seminar comes at a time when Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has published a draft on "Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms 2021" while the information ministry a draft regulation on content-based OTT service provision and operation and display of advertisement guideline 2021.

Once the two drafts were published, there was public outrage and non-government organisations and OTT and social media platforms voiced concerns over those, she added.

"Besides, everyone wants one regulation, not two regulations under two different regulators," Rashna added.

Md Nasim Parvez, director general of the BTRC, said the BTRC has already submitted a second draft and some changes were made in consultation with social media platforms.

"We have given time to prepare the final regulation by October 19," he said.

The European Union and Russia issued heavy fines on social media platforms. "In case of Bangladesh, we haven't included new rules for fines. We only included what is in the existing telecom act," he said.

He said the regulations were drafted with the aim of securing responsible business practices from the digital platforms.

FBCCI Director Syed Almas Kabir informed that the global market size of OTT platforms was of $178 billion which would reach $275 billion by 2027.

"Therefore, to strengthen Bangladesh's position in this market, the regulation must facilitate local companies," he said.

Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said Facebook and YouTube run on US-based community standards, many of which were not suitable for Bangladesh.

The draft regulation will ensure that online content do not go against the norms and values of Bangladesh, he said.

Md Mokbul Hossain, secretary to the ministry of information and broadcasting, said two different ministries prepared different guidelines on the same issue on court directives.

FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin urged policymakers not to hinder the growth of the new potential sectors.

Navidul Huq, a director at Mohammadi Group, said Bangladesh was a unique country where two regulators were forming regulations for a single industry.

"There was convergence (of regulation) around the world. Even in India, there is one regulation. We are complicating things," he said.

There will be no ease in doing business if there are two regulators, he said.

He said the local OTT platforms were competing with global giants so there should be a regulation that supports the local industry.