The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission blocked more than 15,000 porn websites and more than 2,000 gambling websites Monday. File Photo by Christopher Schirner/Flickr

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Bangladesh's government shut down more than 15,000 pornography and gambling websites and two popular smartphone video-sharing apps as regulatory pressure mounts in the country.

The Bangladesh government's telecommunications regulator blocked 15,636 porn websites and 2,235 gambling websites Monday, along with the two popular smartphone apps, Tik Tok and Bigo, Bangladeshi news website New Age reported.


Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar confirmed the move on his verified Facebook account.

Two users of the smartphone-based game, Tik Tok, poked fun at recent elections in the nation. With fears that apps could also be misused to make obscene videos, both have been blocked.

"We have found nothing positive out of these two apps and decided to close them accordingly," Jabbar told New Age. "Our effort is to make Internet space free from any sort of indecent content so that the young people can take benefit out of it."