Dhaka: Alongside different government agencies, the Election Commission will also monitor the social media to check fake news and propaganda ahead of the 11th parliamentary elections, said EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed on Sunday.

He said this while talking to reporters after a meeting at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city, reports the UNB.

Officials from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and other law enforcement agencies were present at the meeting.

The EC secretary said the administration has already started monitoring social media round the clock to prevent fake news and propaganda before the election. “We’ll form a monitoring team of our own comprising ICT officials. It’ll work from tomorrow (Monday) alongside others so the social media is not misused targeting the election and that no one can carry out propaganda there,” he said.

Helal said if anyone conducts propaganda in the social media, legal action will be taken as per the Digital Security Act and other existing laws.

On November 26, the EC also held a meeting with the representatives of BTRC and National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), and top officials of other law enforcement agencies and mobile phone operators in this regard.

At that meeting, the Commission asked the authorities concerned to monitor the social media round-the-clock to check the spread of propaganda and rumours over the forthcoming national election.