Photo: BSS

RANGPUR, Aug 11, 2026 (BSS) - Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Major General (retd) Md Emdad-ul-Bari today called on people from all strata to come forward to prevent spread of rumors through social media. 

He said, “We all support freedom of expression. It does not mean arbitrariness. There must be a limit to it. So, it is possible to deal with rumors socially rather than using technology because whatever is in society is being circulated through social media.” 

He made this call at a views-exchange meeting titled 'Electromagnetic field radiation of mobile towers monitoring in Rangpur city, public awareness and improvement of service quality' held at the Deputy Commissioner’s conference room as the chief guest.

Rangpur Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ruhul Amin presided over the event. 
 
BTRC Director General (Engineering and Operations Division) Brigadier General Shafiul Azam, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC-General) Md Ramiz Alam, ADC (Education and ICT) Md Shariful Alam, Rangpur Chamber Director Partho Bose, among others, addressed the meeting.

Taking part in the discussion, the speakers narrated the networking problems in Rangpur city, damage to life and nature due to radiation, and various recommendations for improving the quality of internet service.
 
In his speech, the BTRC Chairman said, now, many videos are being made with artificial intelligence (AI). 
 
“We have seen various AI videos during the Russia-Ukraine war. Even after the mass uprising of 2024, we had to face fake videos,” he said
 
Before the last parliamentary election, one of the concerns of the law enforcement agencies was whether any unrest would be created by spreading fake videos because those videos during the election could have a big impact on the common people. 

“But in this case, the opposite happened. We were afraid that people would believe the fake videos. But later we saw that people did not believe even the true videos either because people have learned a lot from social media,” he said. 

So the reality is that society's efforts to stop rumors through technology will continue, maybe we will never be able to stop it through using technology. 

“However, society itself has to come forward to prevent rumors effectively,” he said.