When police become content creators, social media guidelines widely ignored

A police operation is underway on a road. A woman riding a red scooter is signaled to stop. The duty police officer approaches her and says, "What is it, sister? You ride the bike well. Where is your helmet? That is also important."

The woman attempts to answer. Before she can finish, the officer proceeds to say, "When you left home, didn't your husband say anything? He should have put the helmet on your head."

A 1-minute-and-31-second video of this conversation between the police officer and the scooter rider was posted on 26 August on a Facebook page titled 'Force-360 by MH Nayem'. The video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times, with over 1,000 comments and approximately 55,000 reactions from Facebook users.

The police officer seen talking to the woman is Sergeant M.H. Nayem, currently stationed in Charfashion, Bhola. When asked, he told Prothom Alo that he creates videos for Facebook to raise public awareness. He claims he only posts videos that serve the purpose of social awareness and do not disparage anyone. When asked if he posts them to earn money, he replied that if the goal were just to make money, there would be many other ways to do so. He insisted it is done solely for awareness.

Such content is frequently found on Facebook and not just it. These videos are widely available on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Likee. It appears that police officers themselves have become content creators.

107 Facebook accounts have been identified that are run by police officers. These videos garner millions of views, creating opportunities for income. The question is, can police officials record videos of their operations and promote them on their personal Facebook accounts?

Analysts say police’s job is to take legal action against offenders, not to humiliate them socially or put them through a “media trial”. The videos appear to focus more on gaining popularity than raising awareness. This violates the privacy rights of citizens.

Human rights activist and researcher Rezaur Rahman Lenin told Prothom Alo that police can record videos during operations for investigation purposes. But such footage is supposed to be used only for investigations. Yet, in many cases, videos are released while cases are still under investigation. Additionally, releasing operation footage or publishing it on personal social media accounts is undoubtedly a violation of a citizen's right to privacy.

A video posted on a page called 'OC Nur Nabi Fans’ shows a handcuffed young man standing in a room. A police officer beside him asks him to look at the camera and asks for his name and identity.

At one point in the video, the police officer describes how the young man allegedly committed the theft and how he was detained.

Police are not allowed to show an accused person’s face on camera. That is why the faces of accused people are now blurred in official notices issued by police.

The name of that police officer is Nur Nabi. He is the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kotwali Police Station in Dinajpur district. However, OC Nur Nabi denied running the page. He told Prothom Alo, "I do not run that page. Someone else must have opened and is running it. It says 'Fans' on the page. If it were mine, it would not have said 'Fans'."

Asked whether he should have taken the fact that a page was being run using his name as the OC of the police station into consideration, Nur Nabi said, “I’m not the only Nur Nabi. There could be other people named Nur Nabi.”

However, a source at Dinajpur Kotwali police station said OC Nur Nabi himself runs the ‘OC Nur Nabi Fans’ page and has police personnel record the videos.

Prothom Alo has compiled a list of the 107 pages based on the number of followers. The account named Shahidul Islam has 1.6 million followers, while the accounts named Shamim Hasan and Sujon Srabon have 1.6 million and 1.3 million followers respectively. Naimur BP 03 has 1 million followers, Sergeant Anisur Rahman has 1 million and Esha Rahman also has 1 million.

Alok De (Alok Kumar De PPM) has 822,000 followers, Mukhlesur Rahman has 749,000, Azad BP has 647,000 and MD Mashiur Rahman (Mashiur Traffic and Travel) has 595,000.

The account ‘Shimul Bhai’ has 526,000 followers, the page ‘Masud Alam Fan’ has 464,000, and the account Sanjoy Goswami (Niloy Habi) has 392,000 followers.

A video posted on a page named Shahidul Islam shows a woman wearing a black burqa who has come to a police officer seeking legal assistance.

In the video, the police officer says, “This younger sister has come to me in great trouble to seek advice on an issue. Sister, please tell me what happened.”

The woman then starts describing her problem. Sad background music plays throughout the video. The video was posted on Facebook on 11 September and has been viewed 3 million times so far.

Another video on the same page shows two police officers slowly riding a motorcycle. A man is seen running after them, repeatedly saying, “Stop, sir, stop, sir.”

The police officer stops the motorcycle and asks, “What happened? Tell me what the matter is.” The man then begins describing his situation. A conversation between the police officer and the man follows.

The police officer is Shahidul Islam, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) at Nalitabari police station in Sherpur. He runs the page himself.

Asked about it, he told Prothom Alo, “Basically, whenever I am on duty and see something in front of me, I record it. I help poor and vulnerable people. I do these things thinking that people who watch the videos may come forward to help them.”

However, some of his videos appear to be staged.

Asked whether creating such content while in uniform during duty interferes with his work, he said, “We wear uniforms throughout the day. It does not cause any problem during duty. I do it during breaks in my work. There has never been a problem.”

According to Article 10.12 of the Bangladesh Police Social Media Use Guidelines-2025, no police officer can upload videos or still images of their operational activities on social media without prior approval from the appropriate authority.

Article 6.5 states that being active on social media while performing official duties is directly considered “misconduct” and negligence of duty.

Article 12 of the guidelines clearly states that violating these rules will be considered unprofessional conduct and that strict departmental disciplinary action will be taken against the officer concerned.

The use of social media by police officers and their tendency to post videos and photos are also seen in various countries. Several countries have already introduced restrictions on police officers’ use of social media while on duty. In some countries, there have also been cases of disciplinary action for violating such restrictions.

For example, the San Francisco Police Department in the United States has issued guidelines on its website regarding officers’ personal use of social media. The guidelines state that officers are prohibited from posting photos of themselves in uniform on personal social media accounts without departmental approval, or displaying official identifying elements such as badges, insignia or logos.

The Philippines also has guidelines restricting police officers from posting videos on social media while wearing uniforms or performing their duties.

On 23 June 2026, Nigerian media outlets TheCable and Premium Times, quoting police public relations officer Anietie Edem, reported that police officers in the country had been prohibited from creating or sharing videos while in uniform without official approval, publicly commenting on official police matters, disclosing sensitive information about operations or using their rank for personal publicity, entertainment or commercial gain.

At the same time, Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police Olatunji Disu prohibited police officers from creating content on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube while identifying themselves as members of the Nigeria Police Force, or earning money from such content.

He also warned that officers violating the directive could face dismissal, demotion, forfeiture of salary and legal action.

AHM Shahadat Hossain, assistant inspector general and spokesperson for Bangladesh Police Headquarters, told Prothom Alo that there is no scope to make content while wearing a police uniform and posting it on personal accounts. This is a deviation from the rules. He said that action had been taken against a few individuals for this reason in the past. The process of taking action against a few others is ongoing.

Shahadat said there are guidelines for police members on social media usage. These must be followed. If any such complaint is received that a police member is not following those guidelines, action will be taken.