Colombo, Sep 19 (PTI) The Sri Lankan government gazetted the Online Safety Bill on Tuesday, drawing criticism from the Opposition, who labelled it harmful to the freedom of expression guaranteed in the Constitution.

Gazetted by the Minister of Public Security, the bill aims to establish the Online Safety Commission, make provisions to prohibit online communication of certain statements of fact in Sri Lanka and prevent the use of online accounts and inauthentic online accounts for restricted purposes.

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It also makes provisions to identify and declare online locations used for prohibited purposes in the island nation, suppress the financing, and other support of communication of false statements of fact.

The main Opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, expressed concern and told Parliament that the new bill aims to curb the people's right to create social platforms for organising themselves and campaigning against social ills.

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The main Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, warned that the bill could drive out all major social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Instagram from Sri Lanka.

Under the bill, the President is empowered to appoint a commission to determine the truth, which the Opposition claimed would infringe upon freedom of expression.

On September 4, the Cabinet approved the bill in order to curb the dissemination of false information online and to cause violence through such false information.

Among the offences listed in the draft bill were: communication of false statements on the incidents within Sri Lanka, false statements causing defamation, disturbing religious assembly through false statements, communication of false statements with the sole intention of hurting religious emotions, communication of false statements with the sole intention for the abomination of religious emotions, the Economy Next news portal said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)