Serious questions have arisen whether the government’s final objective is to introduce China’s highly regulated social media platforms to Sri Lanka while banning the existing social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Samagi Jana Balawegaya youth wing Propaganda Secretary Rasika Jayakody said.

Commenting on Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s claim that the government will register all social media users in Sri Lanka in order to curb “nefarious activities” on social media platforms, Jayakody said this was a "dangerous game" to play with people's privacy.

“Anyone who uses a social media account already has an agreement with the relevant social media service provider regarding data security. Accordingly, these companies are obliged to protect the confidentiality of the data and information of social media users in all other cases except in the case of an investigation into an illegal activity. When a social media user in Sri Lanka engages in an illegal activity, the government is in a position to contact those companies and take appropriate action. In this context, we believe that registering social media users is nothing more than a dangerous gamble done with people’s privacy and this whole process is driven by ulterior motives,” he added.

The information gathered through this registration can be used to hunt down people who generate content on social media against the wishes of the government. This witch hunt has already begun. Moreover, there is a risk of using this data even for election campaigns. Where is this data stored? Who has access to these? What purpose is it used for? A number of serious issues should be raised over this suspicious operation,” Jayakody said.

“China is a perfect example to show the negative impacts of laws infringing on people’s provacy and individual liberties. Chinese citizens have no right to privacy or confidentiality. Agents of the state are watching everything they say and do. If such repressive laws are adopted in this country, our government will also follow the same path,” he explained.

However, ruling party national list MP Charitha Herath today said there was no decision to register social media users in Sri Lanka. “The discussion was based on the fact that there's no any sort of regulation on digital news sites in the country and whether this issue could be addressed in the amendment process of the Press Council Act,” he said.