Will blocking Telegram, Botim apps prevent communication with Sheikh Hasina?

The issue of blocking two apps—Telegram and Botim—was discussed at a meeting of the core committee on law and order held at the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday.

According to meeting sources, it was alleged that Awami League (currently its activities are banned) leaders and activists are using the two apps to communicate with their party president, Sheikh Hasina, who is presently in India.

The claim, raised at the meeting, was based on information obtained by checking the mobile phones of activists arrested during flash processions.

For this reason, the meeting discussed slowing down the speed of those apps at night and shutting them down altogether following the announcement of the national election schedule.

The key question is: can internet-based communication apps be blocked? And even if possible, would it be an effective measure?

Prothom Alo spoke to three experts on the matter. Their verdict: it is a laughable idea.

IT specialist Suman Ahmed Sabir told Prothom Alo, “What good will come from blocking one or two apps? There are hundreds of such apps. Blocking a few changes nothing.”

It is difficult to state definitively how many communication apps exist for mobile phones. Alongside globally popular ones, many country- and region-specific apps are available in app stores.

In some cases, small groups even create and use their own applications.

Business of Apps, a UK-based website providing data on the app industry, estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of communication apps worldwide. By 2024, the number of users had reached nearly 4 billion.

The site lists WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Telegram, WeChat, Line, iMessage, Discord, Signal, Viber, and KakaoTalk as among the most popular globally.

Data from SimilarWeb shows that in Bangladesh, WhatsApp is the most used, followed by Telegram, Messenger, IMO, Snapchat, and others.

Botim, however, has never been particularly popular here—ranking 49th in usage according to SimilarWeb.

On Wednesday, 244 people were arrested from a flash procession in Dhaka. Sources at the home ministry meeting claimed that more than 150 of them had been using the two apps to maintain contact with Sheikh Hasina and participate in meetings.

The government is planning to hold the next general election before the start of Ramadan in February. The home ministry expressed concern that Awami League leaders and activists are being mobilised via internet-based platforms, and once the election schedule is declared, they could destabilise the country.

When asked whether any app could be blocked, Suman Ahmed Sabir said, “Yes, they can be blocked—but only for some people. Others will still find ways to use them. There are always workarounds.”

During the July Uprising, the then-Awami League government had blocked Facebook and other apps. Many users could not access them, but those who knew how simply used VPNs to bypass restrictions.

Asked if it was technically possible to slow app traffic at night, Sabir explained, “For very low traffic, perhaps. But for high traffic volumes, government agencies do not have that level of capacity.”

Rajesh Palit, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North South University, said the government could request Google to block access to apps, though there is no guarantee Google would comply. Alternatively, authorities could block the URLs of the apps’ servers—something within the government’s capability.

However, VPN use remains an easy workaround. When the ousted Awami League government’s measures failed, it ultimately resorted to shutting down the internet altogether.

From the night of 17 July 2024, mobile internet was switched off, followed by broadband internet at 9:00 pm on 18 July.

All internet services were suspended for five days, mobile internet for 10 days, and platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp remained inaccessible for 13 days.

According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), by the end of July the country had 135 million internet users, counted as anyone going online at least once in the past 90 days. One person can be counted multiple times if they use multiple SIMs or connections.

Today, not only communication and entertainment, but business, education, offices, and courts all rely on the internet. After the July Uprising, the present government pledged never to shut down the internet.

Professor BM Moinul Hossain, director of Dhaka University’s Institute of Information Technology, told Prothom Alo, “Blocking apps never solves problems. There are no success stories. Political and legal problems require political and legal solutions. Shutting down services is not a solution.”

“The consequences of blocking apps can be seen from the example of Nepal,” he added.