Colombo, March 14 (newsin.asia) – Restriction on social media platform Whatsapp will be lifted from midnight tonight (March 15), Secretary to the President and Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Chairman Austin Fernando said.
The move follows hours after the government lifted restriction on Viber.
The Sri Lankan government, on March 7 imposed a temporary ban on social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Viber and Instagram following the outbreak of deadly communal clashes between Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims.
At least 280 people have been arrested so far and the police have been able to find seven petrol bombs from the information supplied by some of those arrested.
The ban on Facebook in Sri Lanka will be lifted after the conclusion of on-going talks between the government and Facebook, Fernando said while Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando said a meeting between Facebook and the government was scheduled to be held on Thursday.
Minister Fernando said that following the talks, the ban on Facebook was likely to be lifted on Friday morning.
The ban imposed, hurt Facebook’s business and they appear to be coming round to the government’s point of view that Facebook too have a duty to perform besides making money, Austin Fernando in an interview to newsin.asia said on Tuesday.
“People are blaming us for the ban, but forget that there are others involved,” Fernando said referring to Facebook.
He reiterated his stand that stern measures like the imposition of a State of Emergency and the ban on social media were the main reasons for the improvement in the security situation in the country.
