Bangladesh today lifted a ban on popular video sharing website YouTube, eight months after it was imposed to prevent the viewing of an anti-Islam film which had sparked worldwide protests.
“The ban has been lifted,” a spokesman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Sunil Kanti Bose said.
Talking to state-run BSS news agency Bose said the people in Bangladesh now could have access again to the YouTube as all the International Internet Gateway (IIG) were directed to provide the popular service to the customer.
The telecom regulator blocked YouTube in Bangladesh on September 17 last year to prevent people from watching the 14-minute trailer on a film titled ‘Innocence of Muslims’ which sparked deadly protests from the Middle East to Southeast Asia claiming many lives.
Bose said the ban was lifted on Google assurance that they would filter the objectionable content ‘Innocence of Muslims’ for what the popular video streaming site was blocked temporarily in the country.
The BTRC chief said the Google also assured the regulator to install an independent server in Bangladesh as soon as possible.
Different Islamist groups had protested the film and set fire to US flag in the country.
The BTRC eventually banned the site as the Google US and Google APAC that control the operations of YouTube facility across the Asia-pacific region did not respond to Bangladesh request to withdraw the film.
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