The government last night lifted the weeklong ban on Facebook, a social networking website.

Masud Kabir, managing director of Mango Telecom

Services, one of the Internet gateways handlers, said, “We opened Facebook to the users at 11:40pm following a BTRC directive.”

The website's homepage was available around 11:42pm.

Around 11:25pm, BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed told The Daily Star, “We received signal from government high-ups to resume Facebook access.”

“It will open within few minutes,” Ahmed had added.

Bangladesh 'temporarily' blocked access to the social networking website on Saturday last.

The ban came after the arrest of a youth for uploading satiric images of some leading politicians including the prime minister and leader of the opposition.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said the popular website was blocked also for hosting of some anti-religious and pornographic links by users across the globe.

The decision triggered a barrage of criticism, especially from the youth.

Later, the BTRC contacted with the Facebook team to remove the offensive contents. And the site authorities sent feedback.

“I look forward to learning more about your local standards and working together to promote safe use of Facebook in Bangladesh,” said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer of Facebook, said in a letter to BTRC.

“My team is responsible for managing law enforcement relations on Facebook and promoting a safe experience on the site for our users. I can be your main point of contact as we work through and establish detailed processes for removing troubling content in the future,” Sullivan said in the letter.

“We are satisfied with the removal of offensive items by Facebook team. And now it's again open for all," said BTRC chairman.

He added, “We will strongly monitor the postings on the site.”