146th IPU Assembly & Related Meetings - Manama, Bahrain

11th – 15th March 2023

PARLIAMENTARY IMPETUS IN FAVOUR OF THE FIGHT AGAINST

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to express my sincere

Societies have grown and developed around digital technologies to the extent that all aspects of
society, critical infrastructures such as electricity, water, gas, banking, communications,
transportation or hospitals rely on internet to efficiently deliver goods and services. Users can
carry out their day-to-day tasks much more efficiently online. Cyberspace has expanded
beyond a simple technical realm to become a new dimension where virtual interactions and
activities replace physical and material interactions. At the same time, however, they are
vulnerable to be abused by malicious actors who use the channels to spread misinformation
and hateful and divisive content.

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the creation and spread of disinformation. While
disinformation is taking place both online and offline, the online environment seems to be
especially fruitful for these types of communication, allowing it to grow exponentially over
short periods and gain enormous geographic reach. Recent research shows that disinformation
is becoming an organic part of our information ecosystem, and the fight against it needs to be
more nuanced.

Disinformation can have devastating effects on democracy, public discourse and human rights.
It undermines trust in public institutions, democracy and science, erodes democratic values of

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diversity, tolerance and openness, and endangers individual and public health, especially in the
time of the pandemic. The dangers of disinformation are grave and significant and the fight
against it is complicated, and sometimes controversial, not only because it is difficult to find an
effective counter-weapon, but primarily because opinions and information enjoy strong
protection of the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression, freedom of information,
media freedom and pluralism are cornerstones of a democratic society, and measures to tackle
the disinformation problem are by necessity restrictive on these fundamental rights.

My Dear Distinguished Delegates, hate speech is also on the rise worldwide with the potential
to incite violence, undermine social cohesion and tolerance, and cause psychological,
emotional, and physical harm to those affected. Hate speech not only affects the specific
individuals and groups targeted, but societies at large. The devastating effect of hatred is sadly
nothing new. However, its scale and impact are amplified today by new technologies of
communication, so much so that hate speech, has become one of the most frequent methods for
spreading divisive rhetoric and ideologies on a global scale. If left unchecked, hate speech can
even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions, wide scale
human rights violations.

Recognizing the global rise and concern over hate speech, the UN General Assembly has
adopted a resolution on promoting inter-religious and intercultural dialogue and tolerance in
countering hate speech. The resolution proclaimed June 18th as the International Day for
Countering Hate Speech. Marked for the first time in 2022, the UN International Day for
Countering Hate Speech is an important opportunity to raise awareness of the risks posed by
hate speech to human rights, democracy and the rule of law and take collective action to
implement the principles of the Council of Europe Recommendation on Combating Hate
Speech. The recently adopted Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2022)16 by UN, on
combating hate speech has called on all governments and other key stakeholders to develop
comprehensive strategies to prevent and combat hate speech through effective legal and policy
frameworks covering criminal, civil and administrative law and through the implementation of
additional measures, including awareness-raising measures; education; training; counter- and
alternative speech; providing support to those targeted by hate speech; monitoring and analysis
of hate speech; and increased national coordination and international cooperation.

The rapidly developing new digital technologies as internet have changed inevitably the way of
people communicating, enabling quick dissemination of ideas and images between large

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numbers of people all over the world. However, this has increased freedom of information-
sharing which has not only positive consequences, but also negative impact upon civil society
and human rights and can lead to inappropriate social results. The utility of the internet to
spread views and opinions has been realized both by the advocates of democracy and also by
racist groups. But the internet is filled by a multiplicity of variegated commercial and private
users. It is a boon for all sorts of advocacy. Among the views available for consumption on the
web are those that denigrate people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and
sexual preference. Hate groups take advantage of this relatively inexpensive medium for
ideological distribution. Usage of social media is vast and information can be disseminated
easily with less cost. With the usage of social media such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, and
Facebook by extremists, as well as terrorists, they can gather people unlike in the past where
ideologies will be preached in gatherings. They can spread pamphlets, letters, and images to
groups of users who can anonymously participate in racist meetings, think tanks, and planning
committees. One of the down sides of the internet is that it provides a global forum for the
advocates of intolerance and inequality.

With new technologies, extremist groups and individuals have a new powerful instrument to
propagate racial discrimination, xenophobia, neo-nazism, antisemitism etc. for the widespread
dissemination of racist content. The internet is increasingly used by racist groups to
disseminate racist ideology, as well as to communicate, to recruit, organize and mobilize
members and raise finance through the sale of racist merchandise. Internet is a valuable tool for
racist groups due to several reasons. They do not usually have access to the regular mass media
therefore the internet is a global communication system which allows them to be
internationally organized. Internet technology is easily used and available at low cost.
Repression of racist activities on the Internet is not yet efficient. Therefore, one of the
consequences of advancement of the new communication technologies in digital era is the
increased number of extremist hate websites, propagate hate speech and incite racial violence,
and incidents of racist violence and crimes prompted by racist content on the Internet.

We, Parliamentarians, as representatives of the people, are the first line of response to the issue
of disinformation and hateful and discriminatory content on cyberspace. Their legislative,
oversight, budgetary and representative functions are key to understanding and addressing
these modern threats nationally and internationally. The policy responses to disinformation and
hateful and discriminatory content on cyberspace include the adaptation of existing laws and
policy measures, as well as the drafting of new ones. Both contain risks to freedom of

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expression. There is, however, a third scenario: social media platforms engaging in self-
regulation and interfering with the rights of users more than necessary, without safeguards and
judicial oversight. This logic leads to the conclusion that clear, well-designed state regulation
is necessary to find the careful balance between the risk of disinformation and the risk of
suppression, and between state and private censorship.

Different political and regulatory traditions play a key role in shaping responses to
disinformation and hateful and discriminatory content on cyberspace. While some
governments have been considering how to respond to such without damaging pluralism and
human rights, others are using legislation against disruptive content to limit freedoms. By
March 2020, at least 28 countries had passed laws related to such, either updating existing
regulations or passing new rulings. The scope of established legislation varies from media and
electoral laws to cybersecurity and penal codes.

My Dear Distinguished Delegates, Digital Laws play a major role in use of ICT and of course
cyberspace, as it provides the necessary legal environment to control disinformation, hateful
speech and discriminatory content in cyberspace. Sri Lanka does not have separate legislation,
to combat and mitigate online falsehoods. However, there are other statutes, which address
such issues.

According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the supreme law of the country national security
takes precedence. As per 15(7), the exercise and operation of all the fundamental rights
declared and recognized by Articles 12, 13(1), 13(2) and 14 shall be subject to such restrictions
as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national security, public order and the
protection of public health or morality, or to secure due recognition and respect for the rights
and freedoms of others, or of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a
democratic society. Article 14. (1) states that “Every citizen is entitled to the freedom of
speech and expression including publication; 14(1)(a) shall be subject to such restrictions as
may be prescribed by law in the interests of racial and religious harmony or concerning
parliamentary privilege, contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. Freedom of
speech, expression and publication are essential rights in any state. Sri Lanka being a country,
which is democratic, government, is duty bound to respect public opinion and allow healthy
dialogue and constructive criticism. Nonetheless, engaging in misinformation, false
information and falsehoods to deceive the public, manipulate, enrage and incite unrest and
violence should not be tolerated. The rights enshrined in the Constitution are focused on the

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betterment of people, and the rationale behind limiting freedom of speech, expression and
publication is in light of public interest, and racial and religious harmony.

Further, according to section 98 of Police Ordinance of Sri Lanka, any person who shall spread
false reports with the view to alarm the inhabitants of any place within Sri Lanka and create a
panic shall be guilty of an offence, and be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred Sri
Lankan Rupees, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding
twelve months; and if he shall be convicted a second time, or shall persist in the offence after
warning to desist, he shall be liable to corporal punishment not exceeding twenty lashes.

According to Section 120 of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka, whoever by words, either spoken or
intended to be read, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise, excites or attempts
to excite feelings of disaffection to the State, or excites or attempts to excite hatred to or
contempt of the administration of justice, or excites or attempts to excite the people of Sri
Lanka to procure, otherwise than by lawful means, the alteration of any matter by law
established, or attempts to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the people of Sri Lanka, or
to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of such people, shall be
punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or to excite the
people of Sri Lanka to attempt to procure by lawful. means, the alteration of any matter by law
established, or to point out to their removal matters which are producing or have the tendency
to produce feelings of hatred or ill-will between different classes of the people of Sri Lanka.

Also, as per section 6 (1) of Cyber Crime Act of Sri Lanka, any person who intentionally
causes a computer to perform any function, knowing or having reason to believe that such
function will result in danger or imminent danger to national security, the national economy or
public order, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punishable with
imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding five years. This section deals with
the online aspect, however, it does not criminalize institutes and coperations.

In 2021, to help combat online hate faced by youth in Sri Lanka, the ‘Cyber Care’ mobile
application was launched in Sri Lanka with the help of United Nations Development
Programme Sri Lanka on World Safer Internet Day, commemorated each year on 9 February.
The app, which was created by Team Cyberwarders, a team who has successfully completed
the incubation phase of the HackaDev: National Youth Social Innovation Challenge, aims to
help alleviate and prevent cyber violence affecting youth of all genders in Sri Lanka.

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In conclusion, it is clear that online falsehoods, hateful and discriminatory content on
cyberspace threatens national security of a country. Due to that reason, to fight the online war,
to prevent and counter the misuse of online accounts, it is prudent to introduce a separate
legislation to criminalize such. The legislation should not criminalize satire, parody or
constructive criticism. However, should have specific appeal procedures and calibrated
remedies. This will ensure transparency of the sources generated and disseminated online as
they will be error-free. That will also safeguard the privacy of users by preventing fabrication
and falsification of information.

Thank you

Prepared by the Research Division of Parliament of Sri Lanka 03/02/2023