Jumbangla Desk: Online gambling is increasing in the country, cyber crime is increasing and the young generation is addicted to pornography. As a result of which Internet abuse or Internet addiction, pornography addiction is increasing, and through this, depression, stress, anxiety are increasing.

Which is very dangerous, the next generation of the country is under threat. In order to get rid of this, Bangladesh Muthofone Consumers Association, a civic organization that is vocal about customer rights, has demanded the closure of all pornography and gambling site links.

In a statement sent to the media on Monday, Mohiuddin Ahmed, president of the organization, said that from October 2022 to June 2023 last year, BTRC closed 12,003 online betting sites. Even many pornographic sites were shut down. But the regulatory commission and even the NTMC which deals with telecommunication security could not be stopped altogether and could not keep the activities going. As a result, a recent study showed that 63 percent of teenagers in the country are addicted to the Internet. 76.6 percent are suffering from depression. The most alarming finding in the study is that 62.9 percent of teenage girls are addicted to pornography.

On the other hand, our own statistics show that about two crore internet users of the country are directly and indirectly addicted to gambling. Two or four people and even 4-5 people as spectators are indulging in gambling using a device in the neighborhood. In all these gambling games some money is obtained initially but 99% of cases are cheated. And all these gambling ads and links are thousands online. Gambling ads when entering pornography sites. Even in all gambling advertisements, domestic and foreign famous celebrities are seen taking part. Free search in Firefox, Mozilla, Opera Mini, Beta, and even Chrome browser shows links to pornography. Apart from this, sex business advertisements are being opened through social media pages. The ad gets connected to the customer's WhatsApp as soon as they are touched. Those criminal sex traders are grabbing customer information. Porn and gambling are inextricably linked. Those who become addicted to the Internet, especially those who are addicted to gambling and pornography, are the most affected.

Mohiuddin Ahmed said, if gambling or pornography site links or even apps are not stopped, the next generation will be destroyed. People of different age groups are joining it.

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I urge the government to take quick action in this regard. At the same time, I am calling on media, operators, regulatory agencies, government and various educational institutions to come forward to create public awareness on online security. Only secure internet usage can bring prosperity to the country.