The Sri Lankan Government Blocked Social Media Fearing Disinformation Could Inflame Tensions
posted to the country's official news website
said that"the decision to block social media was taken as false news reports were spreading through social media." “The statement added that security forces were conducting comprehensive investigations into the incidents of explosions and that the blockage would be effective until investigations were concluded,” the website said.
Officials made 13 arrests following the bombings by Sunday evening local time, but did not release names of any suspects at that time. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack and no details about the perpetrators have been released by authorities by then.News outlets published names of suspects that had not been verified by officials. One video that named a man in connection with the bombings, and showed a photograph, got hundreds of thousands of views across Twitter and YouTube.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Defense asked reporters to not publicize any potential names of the suspects to avoid inflaming tensions.State Minister/ Defence @RWijewardene urges media not to publicise names of today's attackers. He warned other extremist groups could exploit situation & create tension between communities. "Don't give extremists a voice.
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