Govt. mulling registration of foreign digital operators: Keheliya

• Clarifies Govt. not attempting to register social media users
• Predatory techniques of multinational conglomerates impacting medium-scale companies
• Says local industrialists support Govt. views

Due to their “predatory techniques,” the Government is considering registering foreign digital operators but not social media users, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said in a statement yesterday. 

Rambukwella stated his recent comments on registering social media and digital platform users had been misrepresented and the Government’s focus was more on reducing the impact on small and medium scale companies which lost out to larger multinational digital operators.  

“The statement circulating with regard to social media regulation has been portrayed in a garbled manner, where the true meaning is not conveyed. While acknowledging this, I would like to clarify that the Government’s intention is not to register social media users,” the statement said. 

The Minister insisted his efforts were directed at attempting to convey a mounting concern shared by governments across the world that “these digital multinational conglomerates are overwhelming and alienating our local businesses by data colonisation”.

“This is directly impacting our medium scale companies. This view is also shared by leading industrialists in Sri Lanka. These predatory techniques lead to huge sums of money leaving the country through these digital platforms. Therefore the Government has been considering registering foreign digital operators and not social media and digital platform users.”