Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Sunday asked Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to address the disinformation campaign against Bangladesh being carried out from certain countries to undermine the July-August mass uprising.
“There’s a massive disinformation campaign, and we are the sufferers,” the Chief Adviser told Meta’s director for human rights policy, Miranda Sissons, when the latter met him at the State Guest House Jamuna.
Sissons explained to the Chief Adviser the human rights policy of Meta saying that they remained alert to prevent anyone from using their platforms to spread disinformation.
The Chief Adviser also asked Meta to make its technology more user-friendly for young entrepreneurs.
“Technology is a tool to make things happen. But technology doesn’t decide what we want to do with things. So, we have to reengineer it to make it perfect,” he said.
“With Facebook you have a tremendous amount of possibility. Facebook could be used to make young people entrepreneurs,” he said.
Prof Yunus said the Bangladesh government would remain engaged with Facebook for the benefit of the country’s young population.
Lamiya Morshed, principal coordinator for SDG affairs, Shazeeb M Khairul Islam, Chief Adviser’s personal secretary-2, Ruzan Sarwar, head of Meta’s public policy for Bangladesh and Nepal, Nayantara Narayan, Associate General Counsel of Meta, Alice Budisatrijo, Meta’s head of misinformation policy for Asia-Pacific were, among others, present at the meeting.
In another meeting with Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, an adviser to the IMF and World Bank and a former head of UNDP, at the State Guest House Jamuna, Prof Yunus said reform was the key word of the July-August student-led mass uprising, and his government is committed to carrying out major reforms before holding a “free and fair” election.
He said the interim government would act as a facilitator of the reform process and has set up 15 reform commissions so far to fix key institutions left broken by the dictatorship of Sheikh Hasina.
The British peer thanked Prof Yunus for assuming the leadership of the interim government at a very crucial time in Bangladesh’s history, especially at a time when expectations were high.
The former British minister also said he would be happy to extend his help for the cause of the Bangladeshi people.
The hour-long talks covered wide-ranging issues, including the mass uprising in July-August, development issues, the interim government’s reform initiatives, the misinformation campaign targeting the student-led movement, healthcare, social business and microcredit.
Prof Yunus thanked Lord Malloch-Brown for supporting Bangladesh.
He said managing expectations is one of the key challenges of the government.
Dr Martha Chen, a development worker, Asif Saleh, the Executive Director of Brac, and Lamiya Morshed, senior secretary of the government, were present at the meeting.
