Bangladesh has imported and deployed over 160 types of surveillance and spyware technologies between 2015 and 2025, costing nearly USD 190 million, according to a report by the Technoglobal Institute. Many of these purchases were made secretly, often through third countries, under the justification of counter-terrorism. The National Telecommunications Monitoring Centre accounted for 58% of the spending—about USD 100 million—while RAB, police, DGFI, and BGD e-Gov CIRT acquired systems capable of social media monitoring, mobile and Wi-Fi interception, signal jamming, and data theft. Suppliers included companies from France, Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, and Israel, despite Bangladesh having no formal ties with Israel. The report notes that although the official rationale was counter-terrorism, the technologies were also used to surveil political opponents, journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens, especially during elections and mass protests.