No registration of social media users, Keheliya clarifies

Minister of Mass Media Keheliya Rambukwella affirms that there will be no registration of social media and digital platform users.

Issuing a statement, the stated that the statement circulating with regards to the social media regulation has been portrayed in a garbled manner where the true meaning is not conveyed.

He clarifies that the government’s intention was not to register social media users but to convey a mounting concern shared by governments across the world, that these digital multinational conglomerates are overwhelming and alienating Sri Lanka’s local businesses by data colonization. 

He said: “This is directly impacting our medium scale companies. This view is also shared by leading industrialists in Sri Lanka. These predatory techniques lead to huge sums of money leaving the country through these digital platforms.

Therefore the government has been considering registering foreign digital operators and not social media and digital platform users.”