Law minister Anisul Huq, on behalf of the state minister for information and broadcasting Muhammad Ali Arafat, on Sunday told the Jatiya Sangsad that the government was planning to increase official surveillance on online news portals gradually after bringing those portals under registration.

The minister said this at the parliament while replying  to a question  from the opposition chief whip Mujibul Haque Chunnu in the question-answer session.

‘Apart from this, necessary steps are taken to stop any unregistered online newspaper or online portal of the country if there is a complaint of spreading anti-national news or spreading false and fabricated news,’ he added.

He said that 208 online news portals and 168 daily newspapers’ online versions had been given registration certificates until January, 2024.

The law minister said that the government had launched aregistration system for registering unregistered online news portals across the country.

The Department of Information, empowered by the ministry of information and broadcasting, manages the registration.

‘Online news portal registration is a continuous process. Registration of more online portals will be given periodically subject to verification,’ he said.

In response to the question of independent lawmaker Saiful Islam, the minister said that regular cinema hall monitoring was being done by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board to stop video piracy of domestic films. As a result, the trend of video piracy is decreasing, he said.

He said that currently video piracy had been stopped, but domestic films were under threat due to the free promotion of foreign films through online media, including OTT platforms.

The Bangladesh Film Certification Act-2023 has been passed by the national Parliament to bring the films broadcast through OTT platforms and other online media under the scope of film certification, he said, adding that the law would soon be implemented in jurisdictions.