NEW YORK: Two Bangladeshi social media outlets shuttered by authorities must be allowed to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday, amid mounting indications of a pre-election campaign to silence critical voices.

On Sunday, June 25, the Chittagong district administration in southeast Bangladesh sealed the offices of the privately-owned social media-based platforms CplusTV and C Vision and confiscated their equipment, according to a statement by Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media. The two outlets stand accused of “illegally operating without licenses.”

A person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ anonymously due to fear of reprisals, corroborated this account and alleged that the local authorities acted under the direct orders of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The outlets were being selectively targeted ahead of the country’s January 2024 national election due to their coverage of politics and human rights in Chittagong, this source added.

“Bangladesh authorities’ sealing of the offices of the social media-based news platforms CplusTV and C Vision and the seizure of their equipment are clearly selective targeting ahead of the upcoming January 2024 national election,” echoed Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “A free and fair election requires unhampered access to information. Authorities must allow both outlets to operate freely and without fear of reprisal.”

The targeting of CplusTV – which continues to broadcast – and C Vision appears to fit into a broader crackdown against media and other critical voices ahead of the polls.

Broadsheet Bengali-language newspaper The Dainik Dinkal stopped publishing in February after the quasi-judicial Bangladesh Press Council upheld a government suspension order.