AS BANGLADESH moves deeper into the digital age, the internet has become both a playground and a battleground for the country’s young users. A recent study by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University found that 59 per cent of rural children aged 11 to 17 who access the internet had faced cyber harassment or digital abuse — ranging from online bullying and anonymous threats to exposure to inappropriate content. Yet, despite these alarming figures, legal protections for minors online remain weak. In a digital space where children are increasingly unsupervised, the law still provides little by way of a protective shield.
When the Cyber Security Act 2023 was passed to replace the much-criticised Digital Security Act 2018, expectations were high that it would address these vulnerabilities. The Act criminalises a range of offences: Section 24 penalises unauthorised access to critical information systems, which could apply if school or healthcare records are compromised; Sections 25 to 29 target the publication of false or defamatory content, which may extend to online bullying; Section 42 empowers police to search or arrest without warrant for cybercrime offences. Yet none of these provisions directly tackle the digital threats faced by minors — such as grooming, sexual extortion, revenge pornography or the circulation of intimate images without consent. Without clear definitions or procedural safeguards for offences against children, enforcement remains inconsistent and uncertain.
The gaps are stark in light of how children actually use the internet. A UNICEF Bangladesh study found that around 25 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 first went online before the age of 11, with 63 per cent accessing the web largely unsupervised in what researchers call ‘bedroom culture.’ Many victims of cyberbullying or sexual blackmail were school-age girls, targeted through fake accounts or threatened with exposure of personal photographs. These are not isolated incidents but indicators of a growing trend in which perpetrators exploit the absence of robust laws and weak reporting mechanisms.
Other jurisdictions have responded with more decisive frameworks. The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act 2023 obliges platforms to identify harmful content aimed at minors and remove it swiftly, with heavy penalties for failure. India’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act explicitly criminalises online sexual abuse and requires mandatory reporting, while parts of the Information Technology Act impose responsibility on digital platforms to restrict harmful material. The European Union’s Digital Services Act goes further by requiring platforms to build safer systems for minors by design, not merely by reaction. In contrast, Bangladesh’s Cyber Security Act 2023 contains no such child-specific duties, making accountability for platforms diffuse and enforcement difficult.
Recognising these weaknesses, the government has moved to reform the law. The Cyber Security Ordinance 2025, introduced as an amendment to the 2023 Act, addresses several long-standing deficiencies. It proposes criminalising child sexual abuse content, blackmail, and the unauthorised publication of minors’ images. It also removes nine provisions of the original Act — including some criticised for vague language and for chilling free expression — while introducing stronger safeguards such as judicial review of certain actions and clearer procedures for removing prohibited content. These changes signal an acknowledgement that protecting children online was largely neglected in the original law and required legislative correction.
The Cyber Security Act 2023 was a starting point, but it stopped short of creating a comprehensive framework for child protection in the digital landscape. To move beyond piecemeal measures, Bangladesh must incorporate precise definitions of offences such as online grooming, enticement and sexual extortion. Complaint systems in schools, police stations and digital platforms must be made genuinely child-friendly, encouraging swift reporting without fear of reprisal. Social media companies should be legally bound to take down child abuse material immediately and to report violations to the authorities. Moreover, judicial and administrative processes involving minors must safeguard privacy more rigorously to prevent further harm to victims.
The absence of explicit protections in the 2023 Act exposed a serious gap in Bangladesh’s approach to cyber safety. The Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 represents an important step towards closing that gap by introducing clearer provisions against cyber harassment, sextortion, revenge pornography and other offences disproportionately affecting women and minors. By setting precise legal definitions and strengthening enforcement mechanisms, the revised law asserts unequivocally that crimes against children in the digital sphere will not be left unchecked.
Bangladesh now stands at a legislative crossroads. It can continue to treat children’s online safety as a secondary issue addressed only through generic statutes, or it can develop a modern framework that combines law, institutional readiness and platform accountability. A robust cyber safety regime must not only punish offenders but also prevent harm by making digital platforms safer by design and empowering children to speak up when they are targeted. Protecting minors online is not an optional extra; it is a fundamental duty of a state that claims to prioritise both technological advancement and human rights.
Ìý
Tashdia Tarafdar Ridisha is a law student at the School of Law, BRAC University.