Dhaka, May 20 -- Bangladesh's National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) is moving to expand its capacity to block and filter online content, including social media posts and websites deemed to carry anti-government propaganda, amid renewed scrutiny of the agency's surveillance role and criticism over alleged monitoring of citizens' private communications under previous governments.

The decision came at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on Wednesday, which approved a procurement proposal titled "Expansion of Content Blocking and Filtering System (Phase-1)" for the agency, according to the finance ministry.

The ministry said the project will be implemented under a contract with supplier Global Brand, invo...