President Maithripala Sirisena said some foreign ambassadors in Sri Lanka overstepped their limit when they talked about the recent social media ban in Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena said. 

Speaking to the Sri Lankan community in London, the President said some foreign ambassadors got "irked" when the government took measures to ban social media in March, in the wake of the racially-motivated violence in Kandy. 

The Ambassadors of the United States, the United kingdom and Australia spoke against the social media ban in Sri Lanka and urged the Sri Lankan government to scrap the ban on social media. 

"By banning social media, we averted a disaster," the President said, adding that social media platforms were used to spread falsehood by "various groups". 

He added that social media had become a serious issue not only for Sri Lanka, but also for Western nations such as the United States. 

President Sirisena met the Sri Lankan community in London when he visited the country to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting.