President instructs to immediately lift Facebook ban

President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the Telecommunications Regulartory Commission (TRC) to remove the temporary ban on Facebook with immediate effect.

The President's Twitter account posted the following message a short while ago announcing the lifting of the ban: "On my instructions, my secretary has discussed with officials of Facebook, who have agreed that its platform will not be used for spreading hate speech and inciting violence. As such, I instructed TRCSL to remove the temporary ban on Facebook with immediate effect."

The decision to lift the ban comes after officials from Facebook Inc, met President's Secretary Austin Fernando for talks at the Presidential Secretariat today. 

Facebook has been blocked since last week following communal violence in Kandy. The government stated that social media sites and online messaging platforms were being used spread hate speech and incite violence. 

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