Sri Lanka lifts ban on social media imposed after Easter Sunday bombings

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday revoked the government’s ban on social media use that was imposed throughout the island nation after the April 21 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people. A statement from the government’s information department said that Sirisena had ordered to lift the temporary ban, which had been applied in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, reports Efe news. In the brief statement, the head of the department, Nalaka Kaluwewa, said the government was appealing social media users to “be responsible in their usage of social media sites even though the ban has been lifted”. [caption id=“attachment_6545221” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Security forces patrol a street in Colombo, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks across the island on Easter Sunday. Reuters[/caption] “The decision to ban social media was taken immediately after the attacks. Now after analysing (the situation), the government is of the view that it can be lifted,” Kaluwewa told Efe. “Further, we have to look at returning to normalcy and this decision (to revoke the ban) was connected to that as well.” However, he warned that “whoever shares misinformation has to take responsibility for whatever they share”. “Under the emergency regulations which are in force, the spreading of misinformation can be addressed and action can be taken against those who share such matter,” Kaluwewa added. Immediately after the bombings, authorities declared a state of emergency on the island and blocked social media services and messaging apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, and Snapchat, arguing that such platforms were being used to spread misinformation and rumours across cyberspace to trigger violence.