Banning Social Media for the Purpose of National Security; A Cry out for a Regulated Legal Mechanism to Monitor Social Media Platforms.

Abstract

Technological advancements have paved the way to strengthen the rights of the public. Equally these rights are abused when they are transmitted to the virtual medium. The rights guaranteed by International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) now extend even to the cyber space. Due to new forms of communication modes like social media, boundaries of freedom of expression are unleashed. However, the same rights are frustrated due to unregulated filtering, blocking, banning and even by denying access to information via social media by governments for the purpose of national security. Recently, Sri Lanka experienced threats to national security due to unregulated use of social media which resulted in barricading the access. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to address the need for a separate legal mechanism to regulate and monitor information shared via social media platforms active in Sri Lanka, in order to prevent abrupt blocking which will in turn lead to banning. Further, this study highlights the importance of striking a balance between freedom of expression via social media and national security. To that end it suggests an approach which extends beyond existing legislations, connecting the government, social media platforms and citizens. The paper will follow black letter approach and the recommendations to the regulatory mechanism will be provided with special reference to India and United Kingdom (UK).