Questions have been raised over the Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya’s decision to give the Information Technology Society of Sri Lanka (ITSSL) the go-ahead to monitor social media in Sri Lanka during the period of the upcoming presidential election.

This is because the Election Commissioner’s decision follows swiftly on a strongly-worded letter issued by the ITSSL, accusing Deshapriya of trying to suppress social media in the guise of ‘preventing hate speech’.

The ITSSL drew attention to the fact that the loose definition of hate speech in the Commissioner’s recent statement about his intention to work closely with Facebook to monitor hate content during the upcoming election was an implication of his desire to censor social media.

Not too long after, the Elections Commissioner announced that the ITSSL has been given the official go-ahead to monitor social media in the run-up to the elections. This has raised the question of whether due process was followed when EC Mahinda Deshapriya awarded this pivotal role to the ITSSL.

Interestingly, it has also been revealed that the Chairman of the ITSSL, Rajeev Yasiru, has links to the much-reviled nationalist organisation the Body Bala Sena (BBS) having worked with them for over two years.

It is unclear why the Elections Commissioner has decided to award the right to monitor social media in the run-up to the presidential election to an organisation with links to personalities that have been known to stir up hateful sentiments among minorities in the country.