Hello,

We published a short report on the blocking of news media websites in Bangladesh amid the country's 2024 general elections on 7th January 2024.

You can read the report here: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/11686385001

Specifically, OONI data shows that some ISPs in Bangladesh blocked access to the following news media websites: Manab Zamin, Samakal, Jamuna TV, and Voice of America (VOA) Bangla.

These blocks add to the pre-existing list of news media websites blocked in Bangladesh.

OONI data suggests that the blocks were primarily implemented by means of TLS interference because we observe the timing out of the session after the ClientHello message during the TLS handshake. However, these blocks were not implemented on all tested networks in Bangladesh.

While relevant OONI measurement coverage has been very limited before and after the elections, the available measurements suggest that these news media blocks may have been limited to the election period (6th and 7th January 2024).

We thank communities in Bangladesh for contributing measurements!

Best,

Maria.