Sri Lankan officials have a troubled relationship with social media. They have seen firsthand how quickly online hate can turn into deadly violence.
Sri Lanka blocked several social media networks in the wake of terrorist attacks on Sunday, including Facebook and the messaging service WhatsApp. The extraordinary step reflects growing global concern, particularly among governments, about the capacity of American-owned networks to spin up violence.
YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Viber were also inaccessible, according to internet monitoring groups.
“This was a unilateral decision,” said Harindra Dassanayake, a presidential adviser in Sri Lanka.
Officials blocked the platforms, he said, out of fear that misinformation about the attacks and hate speech could spread, provoking more violence.
Sri Lankan officials have a troubled relationship with social media, which many in the country credit with helping bring democracy after years of civil war, but also accuse of fomenting racial fear and hatred.
Last year, the government briefly blocked social networks after viral rumors and calls to violence, circulating largely on Facebook, appeared to provoke a wave of anti-Muslim riots and lynchings.
Government officials had repeatedly warned Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, that the posts could lead to violence. Company officials largely failed to respond until the government shut down access, after which they promised to hire more moderators and improve communication.
That episode left officials wary of the social network.
Other countries have periodically blocked social media during spasms of violence linked to the platforms. India first blocked access to Facebook in 2012 amid riots linked to false information on the platform. Last summer, viral rumorson WhatsApp in the country appeared to incite a series of mob attacks.
But Sri Lanka’s decision to block social media on Sunday was unusual. The government shut down access before any social-media-inspired violence was known to have taken place.
