By now the entire country knows that a No Confidence Motion (NCM) to be brought against the Speaker of the Parliament in connection with his conduct on signing the Online Safety Act. But it is more interesting to find out who hates this new Act and why than finding out whether the Speaker did something wrong or not. It is because those who hate this Act will do whatever possible to halt the implementation of it simply to win whatever future election using mud, threats and fabricated materials and NOT truth, accurate facts and figures.
Online safety matters for all and it protects the rights of women, children and all ordinary people who do not wish to sling 
mud on others, who do not wish to tarnish the good image of another and who do not wish to steal from another. It is very interesting to analyse who is supporting it and who is opposing it because through this analysis, anyone can very clearly see who opposes or supports it and why. It will give a crystal-clear picture to the ordinary people, especially for those who do not use the internet on this subject.
The Online Safety Act bans online communication of certain statements in the country, prevents the use of online accounts both authentic and inauthentic for the use of prohibited purposes, to suppress the financing and other support of communication of false statements and other related matters.
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Media, Youth, Heritage and New Citizen has approved the Online Safety Bill, subject to the amendments determined by the Supreme Court. The bill was approved when the Sectoral Oversight Committee met in Parliament under the chairmanship of the Member of Parliament Lalith Waranakumara.
Online safety is a must for children and women because they are the main victims of everything circulate through the Internet (social media platforms). Cyber space is the best weapon that can be used by anyone without much effort in order to exploit a woman or a child at any time. The victims, especially children, do not have any control over it. The abusers do not get adequate punishment due to the loopholes in the current law in connection with social media platforms. Once the damage is done, the victims and their loved ones suffer for the rest of their lives because the harmful contents continue to 
circulate all over without any control and there is no way of getting rid of the harmful contents saved in various individuals’ mobile phones, computers, etc. The meaning is the harmful content is out there forever and comes out any moment even after decades. These harmful contents destroy the life of the specific person as well as his/her children and grandchildren.
The other most important area is banking. By now there are several video clips circulating all over Sri Lanka on various issues related to online banking and related technologies. The banks are regularly issuing statements clarifying those videos. This issue has become another `tele drama’ in Sri Lanka and there were several popular incidents. One such incident is robbing money from a young cancer patient’s bank account through online banking. He is a singer and now legal action has been taken against the culprits who robbed money.
According to a recent media report published in one of the popular Sinhala newspapers quoting CERT (Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team), there are over 3000 telephone calls in connection with various cyber-attacks within one month and daily around 25 to 30 individuals visit the institution with various types of complaints. Around 100 emails are received daily in connection with the same.
According to the same media report, the CERT had recorded 60,000 complaints during last year (2023) and it recorded 40,000 complaints in 2022. The most common complaints are in connection with websites, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, intellectual property thefts, video data thefts, software thefts etc. In addition to those, several video clips circulate in social media platforms on various frauds that had been taken in connection with online banking services in Sri Lanka. In those videos the customers describe their personal bitter experiences.
According to the available statistics, the literacy rate of Sri Lanka is 92.38 percent by 2023. But the IT Literacy rate in Sri Lanka is very low when compared with the literacy rate. Overall Computer Literacy reported by 2021 in Sri Lanka is merely 34.3 percent. There were 11.34 million internet users in Sri Lanka by January 2022.
The most interesting part is not that. Who is opposing the online safety bill? Even a kindergarten child can understand that it is the individuals and groups who need to use harmful content and do some type of damage to someone without getting caught and punished by the law. It is as simple as that. Anyone can understand that. The issue is those who oppose it only know how to sling mud on people, tarnish the good images of people, how to use various edited photos, fabricated stories etc. to assassinate people’s characters, how to blackmail people, how to use Gobbles’ Theory in social media platforms etc. They know nothing about winning people’s hearts by serving them and helping them. They are NOT ready to spend anything to get people’s votes and they want to mislead people and get their votes without spending even a cent.
The other problem faced by those crooks is the requirement to double check the accuracy of facts and figures before starting their mudslinging campaigns. Now mud slingers and all types of crooks can just grab any photo, facts and figuresetc. and use them to sling mud on another and tarnish the good image of anyone without checking the accuracy of what they use. But with the implementation of this act, fabricated facts and figures and edited photos, videos etc. cannot be used in order to sling mud and tarnish the good image of people. This is the most serious issue faced by those who oppose this Bill.
Anyone can criticize the Government and the leaders using accurate facts and figures, not fabricated materials can be used. Who wants the freedom to use mud? Who cannot find accurate facts and figures? Who does not have time to check the accuracy of what they use in social media? The simple question is who wants loopholes in the fence to creep? It is the individuals and groups who dominate people through social media. They do not exist at all without social media. Facebook Presidents cannot exist without muddy social media.
According to some recent media reports, more than 100,000 nude photographs have been circulated on social media last year (2023), while there have been 8,000 cybercrimes committed. There have also been 6,690 instances of online sexual abuse last year. More than 500 nude photographs have been circulated within the first few weeks of 2024.
It is not only Sri Lanka which is concerned about online safety. The Online Safety Act 2023 (c. 50) is an act of the Parliament of the United to regulate online speech and media. It passed on 26 October 2023 and gives the relevant Secretary of State the power, subject to parliamentary approval, to designate and suppress or record a wide range of speech and media deemed “harmful”.
It is NOT Sri Lanka, which is about to ban TikTok, one of the popular social media platforms. It is the United States which is going to do it. Last Friday International media (Aljazeera) reported that the US moved a step closer to banning TikTok after the House of Representatives passed a Bill on Wednesday calling for the app’s Chinese developer ByteDance to divest from the company or be booted out of US app stores. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, receiving 352 votes in favour, and only 65 against.
There is one question to ask. Is Sri Lanka using any social media platform that are developed and owned by Sri Lankans?
