Online Safety Law: Superpowers spoiling for a fight

Despite the pushback from civil society organisations and media advocacy bodies, the Online Safety Bill was passed in Parliament this week with a majority vote after last-minute amendments.

Interestingly, passing the controversial legislation in the Sri Lankan Parliament also turned out to be another 'diplomatic front' for global superpowers—the United States and Russia—to score some points or just merely to make a point on the internal legislative process of a host country.

US Ambassador Julie Chung took the matter to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday to say that the US "remains concerned about the potential impact of Sri Lanka’s Online Safety Bill, which passed yesterday without incorporating important input from key stakeholders, including civil society and tech companies who say that this legislation threatens freedom of expression, innovation, and privacy."

In addition to jeopardising democratic values, the US ambassador stressed that vague and overly restrictive legislation can hinder investment and the development of a digital economy, undermining the economic growth that Sri Lanka needs.

On the following day, Russian Ambassador Levan Dzhagaryan issued a rare statement, saying that "regulations of the online sphere are solely a domestic issue of the Republic of Sri Lanka. In this regard, we want to highlight that in our point of view, any interference in this internal issue from aside by the foreign powers is absolutely irrelevant and unacceptable”.

Looks like the big powers are spoiling for a fight in Sri Lanka. As if they don’t have enough on their respective plates already.