Suppression Of Dissent: The Precursor To Tyrannical Rule
Thishya Weragoda
It is ironic that the Government which brought the Right to Information Act[1] into fruition has taken a drastic step to restrict the freedom of expression of the people. Facebook, Whatsapp, Viber and IMO were reportedly blocked/access restricted by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) for a period of 72 hours from midday on 6th March 2018.[2] It has been over 72 hours but the Government has not reinstated the disrupted services as at time of writing this article.
The legality of this measure has to be assessed from the perspective of upholding the Rule of Law. It is often said that “road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Although the stated objective of the blockage was to prevent the dissemination of rumours and hate messages, the overreaching application has had grave repercussions the freedom of expression of the citizens and serious consequences to legitimate business interests of a significant segment of society.
The Telecommunications Operators gave prominence to this requirement by sharing a message which read as follows:
“On the directive of TRCSL in the interest of national security, access to certain Social Media sites and messaging platforms will be restricted with immediate effect until further notice”.[3]
The legal regime under which all telecommunications service providers operate is under license issued by the Minister in terms of Section 17 of the Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991 (as amended by 27 of 1996) The objectives of the Telecommunications Act are set out in Section 4 of the Act.
Restrictions on the use of telecommunications could be imposed/introduced in terms of two provisions of the Act. That is under Section 5, and Section 69 of the Act.
Section 5 of the Telecommunications Act, inter alia provides as follows:
- For the purpose of achieving the objects referred to in section 4, the Authority shall have the following powers, and duties….
(f) to take such regulatory measures as may be prescribed to comply with any general or special directions that may be given to it from time to time by the Government of Sri Lanka in the interest of national security, public order and the defence of the country
