Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Social media regulation could be an inevitable scenario as the countries in the globe envisage signing an international convention on the same, President Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed.

The remark from the President came hours after the Online Safety Bill was presented to Parliament. The Bill was presented to the House this morning.

Many countries in the world are having a dialogue on signing an international convention on regulating social media as of today. Therefore the choice before social media users in Sri Lanka is whether to abide by some international law or to go along with local laws,” the President said at the launch of the book Edmondge Paththara Viplawaya (Edmond’s Newspaper Revolution) at the Presidential Secretariat.    

The President assured some tax concessions for raw materials used in the print media. 

We will look at the possibility of reducing some taxes,” he said in response to a request by veteran journalist Upali Tennekoon who made the keynote address at the event.

Meanwhile, the Opposition raised questions on the Online Safety Bill in Parliament when it was presented by Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles.

Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella questioned why the Minister of Public Security presented the legislation as the subject of media is handled by another Minister.

Sri Lanka could face resistance internationally because of this legislation as the country is already accused of violating rights,” Kiriella said.

Meanwhile, a crosstalk flared up between Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapaksa and MP G.L. Peiris on the date which the period given to file objections begins. 

The 14-day period given to file objections before courts usually begins from the date on which the Bill is entered in the Order Book. This particular Bill came in the order book on September 27. Therefore, seven days of the 14 day period have already gone. This is not a healthy situation,” Professor Peiris said. The Deputy Speaker who responded said the 14 day period begins from the day the Bill is presented to the House as per Section 121 of the Constitution.

However, Professor Peiris said he would not accept that stance and said he would file legal action against the Bill before the Supreme Court. Minister Alles who joined in the crosstalk said the Bill was originally proposed way back in 2016 during the Yahapalana government.  (Yohan Perera)