4 laws Bangladesh needs.

What it would include

1. Duties of care that scale

   Platforms would assess, prevent and respond to serious online harms, in proportion to their size and risk.

2. Notice-and-action with safeguards

   A clear, time-bound process for acting on lawful notices about unlawful content, with counter-notices and protection against abusive takedown requests.

3. Ways to report and appeal

   Accessible, multilingual ways to report harm, get remedies, contest moderation decisions and appeal.

4. Public transparency reports

   Regular public reports on content moderation, recommendation systems, advertising, complaints and government requests.

5. Stronger protection for those most at risk

   Enhanced protection for children, women, journalists, minorities, LGBTQ+ communities and persons with disabilities.

6. An independent regulator

   An independent, technically specialized authority to oversee compliance, conduct audits and impose penalties.

7. Cybercrime, defined precisely

   Clear offenses for hacking, ransomware, phishing and identity theft, with legal protection for good-faith security research.

What it would include

1. A judge approves first

   Interception and device searches would need prior authorization by an independent court, limited to serious offenses and genuine national-security threats.

2. No bulk surveillance

   Bulk, indiscriminate or untargeted surveillance would be prohibited except under an exceptional framework with heightened safeguards.

3. Limits on what is kept

   Strict time limits, data minimization, retention and deletion rules, and audit trails for everything collected.

4. Protected communications

   Higher thresholds for legally privileged, journalistic, parliamentary and medical communications.

5. Written orders only

   Companies would assist only under lawful, written, reviewable orders; informal or politically directed requests would be prohibited.

6. Rules for spyware

   Buying and using spyware, facial recognition and similar tools would need legal authorization, audits and limits on use against journalists and activists.

What it would include

1. Clear rules for online contracts

   Rules on electronic contracts, digital signatures, terms of service, returns, refunds and statutory guarantees.

2. Reach to offshore platforms

   Narrow rules for offshore platforms serving users in Bangladesh, while avoiding jurisdictional overreach.

3. Guards against scams and tricks

   Safeguards against fraud, counterfeits, deceptive pricing, dark patterns, fake reviews and influencer marketing abuses.

4. Know who is selling

   Seller verification, traceability of commercial actors and disclosure of sponsored advertising.

5. Fast, low-cost complaints

   Online dispute resolution with response deadlines, transparent refunds and low-cost redress for consumers and small businesses.

6. Smoother cross-border trade

   Digitized customs, simpler procedures for low-value shipments and interoperable payment and logistics systems.

What it would include

1. Risk-based rules

   Rules that distinguish prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk and minimal-risk AI systems.

2. Bans on the most harmful uses

   Prohibit or strictly limit unlawful biometric mass surveillance, social scoring, discriminatory profiling and unlawful predictive policing.

3. Check before deploying

   Human rights, privacy and safety impact assessments for high-risk AI before it is used in sensitive sectors.

4. A human in the loop

   Human oversight, explanations and a way to challenge AI-assisted decisions about jobs, health care, education, credit or housing.

5. Label AI and deepfakes

   Tell people when they interact with AI or AI-generated content, and label deepfakes and synthetic media.

6. Build local capacity

   Support open research, local-language AI, accessibility technologies and digital inclusion.