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In celebration of World Human Rights Day, the CSMHR at the Department of Mass Communication, the University Media Teachers Association, and Hashtag Generation collaboratively organized an online discussion on the proposed Online Safety Bill in Sri Lanka. This online forum was held on the 11th of December 2023, to critically assess the implications of this Bill and potential consequences if passed by the Sri Lankan parliament.
Mr. Jagath Liyanarachchi, Attorney at Law and Chairman of RTI Commission, and Mr. Viranjana Herath, Attorney at Law, and Director of Media Law Forum, joined this discussion as the primary resource persons. Senior Lecturer Dinithi Jayasekara at the Department of Mass Communication, also an Attorney at Law, moderated this discussion.
Opening the online discussion, Senior Lecturer Dinithi Jayasekara briefed about the aim of this discussion, inviting two resource persons to share their evaluations on the Bill. Mr. Jagath Liyanarachchi presented the content of the Online Safety Bill and decisions made by the Sri Lankan court in response to the 52 petitions filed against it. Also, Mr. Viranjana Herath presented how this Bill will affect media usage in Sri Lanka and what will happen if the Bill gets passed as an act. Further, he continued his presentation questioning the necessity of such Bill by comparing similar acts in other countries. After these two presentations, the platform was opened for a Q&A session where participants shared their concerns and opinions regarding this Bill. This online discussion was concluded by sharing valuable information about the Bill among participants.
This program was held with the participation of the media and communication university lecturers in all the media and communication departments in the Sri Lankan university system. It was also live streamed via the official Facebook pages of the Department of Mass Communication and Hashtag Generation.
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