Tiger skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has reacted sharply by restricting his fans from following his official Facebook page, a day after team-mate Nasir Hossain expressed grief over receiving nasty and harassing comments on a photo post.
Captain of the male cricket team said he shut down the page protesting the harassment. The page could not be accessed since yesterday morning.
However, the Dhaka Tribune has found that the page was accessible in other countries.
Facebook provides an option for administrators to keep a page inaccessible for people of a certain country.
All-rounder Nasir had posted a photo with his younger sister on his official page on June 25 while on a flight to Saidpur after the historic series against India. But he withdrew the photo following a flood of bad comments.
On Saturday afternoon, Nasir posted a statement on his official page along with a photo saying: “Don’t follow me.”
The post reads: “Dear fans, I really get hurt by your comments. I posted this pic on request of my younger sister; many of you put bad comments on it. And some of them made funposts with it.
“I have removed the picture. Are you happy now? I do not need fans like you. Whoever do not like me, please don’t follow me and put comments in my picture. Thank you!”
Following this, many fans posted messages of apology and wishing him the best for the upcoming home series against South Africa. They also suggested Nasir to take legal action and block the people making nasty comments.
The matter of harassment came in mainstream media only after Nasir’s statement, while fans condemned the culprits on social media platforms including Facebook.
After Mashrafe’s step, many cricket fans posted on Facebook by screenshots of the comments, identified those people by checking their profiles, and asked all to trace them.
Mashrafe was not available for comments on the matter. He, however, told another reporter that he had shut down the page to “stand beside Nasir and protest against the incident. I do not need these if I have to face such bitter experience.”
Among other national cricketers, Shakib Al Hasan had faced similar incidents of harassment several times on the posts that contained photos with his wife. Tamim Iqbal too had asked his fans not to criticise or post bad comments about his family members for his poor performance.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
