Sri Lanka faces tough questions over social media ban

Sri Lanka’s decision to block all social media following deadly bombings on Easter Sunday is reigniting the debate over how to combat online disinformation.

A government official called the move a “unilateral decision” and said they blocked the platforms over concerns that tech companies could not adequately stop the spread of disinformation about the attacks, according to The New York Times.

Officials feared that social media could provoke more religious violence after bombings which targeted Christian worshippers at churches on Easter Sunday killed over 300 people.

The ban has been wide ranging with digital rights group NetBlocks reporting that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube and Snapchat have all been blocked in the country.

Reaction: Tech industry critics say that Silicon Valley’s longstanding problems with content moderation has made it harder for governments facing crises to trust them to crack down on disinformation. But many of those critics have also questioned whether Sri Lanka’s blanket ban is the appropriate response.

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and an adviser to the Counter Extremism Project, said social media bans are not always effective and raise concerns about free speech.

Farid, though, added that he believes the “abdication of responsibility on behalf of social media companies” forced the government of Sri Lanka’s hand.

“I think given the repeated failures of social media companies to deal with the weaponization of disinformation, it’s an understandable response,” Farid told The Hill on Tuesday in a phone interview. “I think this was a proportional response to the horrific violence.”