Sri Lanka social media ban
What if one day you woke up and you couldn’t check Facebook? As very phone-dependent teenagers, it would probably be terrible. Sri Lanka did just that.
Last Wednesday, Sri Lanka blocked social media. The main apps were Facebook, Viber, and WhatsApp. The ban comes from the government’s attempt to stop violence.
Sri Lanka is comprised of mainly Buddhism and Hindus. Muslims make up only around 10%. Recently, the Buddhist and the Muslim population have been at odds.
About two weeks ago, a Buddhist man was killed during a violent encounter with some Muslim men.
The next day over 200 people helped set a mosque on fire as well as about 15 homes of Muslim families.
Last Wednesday, the Sri Lankan government issued a state of emergency for 10 days, beginning with the social media block.
The block comes after many anti-Muslim messages were shared on social media platforms. One of the many messages actually came from a Buddhist monk inciting violence against the Muslim population.
We have clear rules against hate speech and incitement to violence and work hard to keep it off our platform .
As of now, the ban is expected to be lifted on Friday, March 16th, 2018.
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