Computer Society of Sri Lanka President (CCSL) Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama emphasised that the Sri Lankan government needs to come to an agreement with social media platform operators such as Facebook, Watsapp and Viber in order to control fake news, hate speech, spreading through these sites in a bid to stop communal hatred and violence.
“It ‘s high time to put in place necessary systems or tools to filter fake news or hateful contents, being shared on social media platforms as automatic and human intervened removal of fake contents are currently limited or inadequate.
However, Abeywickrama emphasised that the government should not fully control content being shared or circulated on these platforms or breach the peoples’ right to freedom of speech or expression in the name of national security while prolonging the ban since social media platforms have given a voice to the general public to express their ideas and opinions on many timely subjects and issues in the country.
Commenting on the government decision to prolong the ban imposed on social media sites, Abeywickrama stated that prolonging of the ban has posed a greater damage to the nation’s reputation for freedom and openness as well as the tourism, the IT sector related businesses.
Meanwhile President Maithripala Sirisena has also urged that it is essential to introduce a new framework to prevent circulating fake and hateful contents on social media platforms.
President Sirisena has also revealed that the daily income of Sri Lanka Telecom and Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission has increased by over Rs 200 million after the government imposed a ban on Facebook, WhatsApp , Viber to control fake news and hate speech spreading through these sites.
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