Sri Lanka blocks social media, declares nationwide curfew to curb protests amid crisis

The Sri Lanka government imposed a countrywide social media blockade after midnight on Sunday, a day after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led government imposed a 36-hour curfew on Saturday in the island country.

According to an internet observatory, the Sri Lankan government imposed a nationwide social media blackout after midnight on Sunday. According to NetBlocks, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram were among the social media platforms affected.

In its tweet, NetBlocks confirmed that Sri Lanka has imposed a nationwide social media blackout, restricting access to platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram as an emergency is declared amid widespread protests.

"Confirmed: Real-time network data show Sri Lanka has imposed a nationwide social media blackout, restricting access to platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram as emergency is declared amid widespread protests," NetBlocks tweeted.

NetBlocks also reported that social media platforms could be accessed indirectly through the use of VPN services, which can work around government-imposed internet restrictions.

As the government scrambles to get foreign cash to pay for gasoline imports, the island country of 22 million people is struggling with blackouts lasting up to 13 hours each day.

Sri Lanka crisis

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced a nationwide public emergency amidst a spate of protests, including outside his house, over the worst economic crisis in the island nation. Violence was noticed outside Sri Lankan President's residence with vehicles being set on fire. After they pulled down a steel barricade placed near the president's residence, in a bid to bring the situation under control, the police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters. Several people were arrested in the incident, the blame of which was put on an extremist group.  Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification late on Friday night, declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect from April 1.

The move also came as the island nation braced for country-wide protests last week against the government’s poor handling of the unremitting economic crisis where people currently take long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials.

Not only that, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led Sri Lankan government imposed a 36-hour curfew on Saturday. The curfew, as per the government order, stays in place across the island country starting from 6 PM on Saturday to 6 am on Monday. The move came following the declaration of a national emergency. 

Amnesty International, a London-based rights group, advised 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 violations.