Information Technology Society of Sri Lanka (ITSSL) Chairman Rajeev Yasiru has denied that the Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya instructed his organisation to monitor social media during the upcoming Presidential election.

Several news organizations had reported that the Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has made the decision following a meeting with ITSSL officials, however, Yasiru said he was not aware of such a meeting.

This begs the question whether the Chairman of the Elections Commission allowed this misinformation to be leaked for reasons yet unknown.

This announcement also follows a strongly worded letter to the Commissioner by ITSSL accusing the Commissioner for attempting to censor social media by promising to monitor it for the loosely defined ‘hate speech’.