Colombo: Following a government order issued late Saturday, all social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube, were blocked. The decision was made, according to the Sri Lankan government, to combat misinformation.
More than a dozen lawmakers from the ruling party have also indicated they will cross the floor, although party leaders are trying to get the courts to prevent them from voting.
On April 3, social media platforms and communication apps such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, among others, were prohibited in Sri Lanka, according to internet monitoring organization Netblocks.
The restrictions in Sri Lanka took effect at midnight on April 3rd across different internet/mobile service providers, and services were restored after 16 hours. According to sources, the action affected all of Sri Lanka’s major network carriers, including Dialog, Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel, and Hutch.
While Sri Lanka has previously restricted social media during periods of upheaval, this was the first occasion that all social media platforms were shut. Sri Lanka is the 11th Asian country to block social media amid protests in the previous seven years, according to research conducted by cybersecurity firm Surfshark.
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