Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, April 3: The Sri Lankan government implemented a statewide social media ban after midnight on Sunday, April 3. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram were among the social media networks affected.
The island government has announced a 36-hour curfew from Saturday to Monday ahead of the scheduled demonstration for Sunday, citing a catastrophic power outage and soaring prices.
As the government scrambles to get foreign cash to pay for gasoline imports, the island nation of 22 million people is struggling with blackouts lasting up to 13 hours each day.
A London-based rights group urged the Sri Lankan government on Saturday that the island nation’s declaration of emergency in the name of public security should not be used as a pretext for human rights crimes.
Notably, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa signed an Extraordinary Gazette on Friday declaring a state of emergency in Sri Lanka, effective immediately. The emergency was declared in the sake of public security, public order, and the provision of critical goods and services to the population.
