Online Safety Act (Sri Lanka)

Online Safety Act, No. 9 of 2024
Parliament of Sri Lanka
  • An Act to establish the Online Safety Commission; to provide safety from prohibited statements made online; to prevent the use of online accounts and inauthentic online accounts for prohibited purposes; to make provisions to identify and declare online locations used for prohibited purposes in Sri Lanka; to suppress the financing and other support of communication of prohibited statements and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
CitationOnline Safety Act, No. 9 of 2024
Territorial extentSri Lanka
Enacted byParliament of Sri Lanka
EnactedJanuary 24, 2024
Signed bySpeaker of the Parliament
SignedFebruary 1, 2024
EffectiveFebruary 1, 2024
Administered byOnline Safety Commission of Sri Lanka
Legislative history
Bill titlePersonal Data Protection Bill
Bill citationOnline Safety Bill
Introduced byMinister of Public Security
IntroducedSeptember 18, 2023
First readingOctober 3, 2023
Second readingJanuary 23, 2024
Third readingJanuary 24, 2024
Supreme Court cases
Supreme Court Determination on the Bill
Keywords
Online safety, Cybercrime, Internet regulation
Status: In force

The Online Safety Act, No. 9 of 2024 is a Sri Lankan Internet safety act aimed at regulating its citizens' Internet usage. It was announced in September 2023 and passed by Parliament on 24 January 2024 by a 108–62 vote.

The bill has been criticised by human rights groups, journalists and opposition politicians as a means of stifling freedom of speech.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ Mallawarachi, Bharatha (2024-01-23). "Sri Lankan lawmakers debate controversial internet safety bill amid protests by rights groups". Associated Press. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  2. ^ Jayasinghe, Uditha (January 24, 2024). "Sri Lanka passes new law to regulate online content". Reuters. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).