The Sri Lankan government followed up its State of Emergency declaration with an islandwide curfew, and now with a sweeping ban on social media and messaging apps. The ban comes on the heels of the rising waves of protests, most notably, the planned massive protest on April 4. This time, the social media ban covers 12 apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Viber, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Messenger, Instagram, and even Telegram.
Speculation over a possible islandwide social media ban grew loud over the past few days, particularly after what transpired at the Mirihana protest. Of course, this isn’t the first time Sri Lankans faced social media bans. The previous government also blocked social media on a few occasions following the Digana riots in 2018, the Easter Sunday bombing in 2019, and the Negombo/Minuwangoda clashes. Ironically, now State Minister of Digital Technology Namal Rajapaksa was quite vocal about the bans during his opposition days back then.
There’s no indication of how long this ban will last or whether it will extend further to other platforms. As per the TRC, the current ban was set in place at the request of the Defense Ministry. Either way, it would be wise to set expectations for the current situation to remain for the foreseeable future.
How to get back online
As such, you probably would have downloaded a VPN by now, fully operational and online as usual. In case you’re not or if you’re looking for solutions, we have a few suggestions you could try. Just to be clear, we’ll get into more detail about these in a follow-up article. But for the moment, here’s what you can do to get back online.
- I want to be as secure as possible: Orbot, available on Android and iOS (however, it’s slow)
- I want a faster option (than Orbot): VPN via Opera browser, private viewing via Tor on Brave browser, or CloudFlare’s 1.1.1.1
- Messaging: Signal, available on all platforms (end to end encrypted)
You could also opt for an offline messaging option like Bridgefy, which essentially lets you send offline text messages via Bluetooth. Though Bridgefy’s effectiveness depends on the number of people opting to use it. But if you’re the unconventional type, you can make your way to LinkedIn or Reddit. At the time of writing, both of those sites seem to be working fine in Sri Lanka.
Of course, the easiest option is to download whatever free VPN is available in the app stores. However, free VPNs come with their own security risks. The last thing you want is a compromised digital presence. So maybe opt out of them if possible.
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