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Parliament enacts the Digital Security Act

On 8 October 2018 Bangladesh enacted the Digital Security Act, a completed speech-and-platform offence used against journalists and critics on Hasina’s watch. In the causal graph this event weakens Democratic Resilience, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 8 October 2018 Bangladesh enacted the Digital Security Act, a completed speech-and-platform offence used against journalists and critics on Hasina’s watch.

Context

Jatiya Sangsad passed. She promulgated. HRW and local editors documented chilling.

2018 election is a neighbouring later mandate row. 2024 crackdown later used broader force.

Bangladesh’s prime minister chairs the cabinet and can order security forces under statute. She does not write an Indian extradition order, a UN body-count as if it were a gazette, a 2026 Tarique Rahman cabinet minute, or an ICJ merits judgment. She fled on 5 August 2024; as of August 2026 she is in India, not in office. Country is Bangladesh, not Pakistan. A RAB warrant is not a completed finding that every disappeared person was thereby a militant. Allegation of a stolen 2018 count is stored as a contested election, not as a completed steal. A 2026 Delhi audio is not a return.

Why it matters

The path is digital rights and democratic resilience: a completed DSA is a chilling-effect instrument on online speech.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Sheikh Hasina

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.7 · verified

    AL majority passed. She promulgated. Police charged. Editors faced cases.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Reuters — Bangladesh passes digital security law criticised by rights groupsReuters · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Laws of Bangladesh — Digital Security Act, 2018Department of Printing and Publications Bangladesh · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Department of Printing and Publications Bangladesh carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

Established: an 8 October 2018 Digital Security Act, independently reported as passed and used.

Not established: that every charged post was false, or a unique later conviction coefficient from gazetting day.

She promulgated. Police charged. Editors faced cases.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Parliament enacts the Digital Security Act, not a later speech about Parliament enacts the Digital Security Act.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to AL majority passed. She promulgated. Police charged. Editors faced cases. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorSheikh Hasina
  2. contributed toFactParliament enacts the Digital Security Act
  3. weakensDrivers (2)Democratic Resilience
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Parliament enacts the Digital Security Act. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/bd-hasina-dsa-2018

https://factrail.ai/facts/bd-hasina-dsa-2018

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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