TikTok was still operational in Sri Lanka in early July 2020, and the government says it has no plans to ban the platform

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 6, 2020 at 11:30
2 min read
By AFP Sri Lanka

Multiple posts shared thousands of times on Facebook claim Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned the video-sharing app TikTok in Sri Lanka on July 1, 2020. The posts were shared shortly after India banned the app and 58 other Chinese apps, citing security concerns. The claim in the posts is misleading; as of July 3, 2020, the app was still operational in Sri Lanka, and Sri Lankan government sources say no such decision has been made by President Rajapaksa.

The misleading claim was published in this Facebook post on July 1, 2020. It has been shared more than 5100 times.

The post features the logo for TikTok, alongside an image of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Sinhala-language text superimposed on the image translates to English as: “Tiktok banned in Sri Lanka after today / The President has issued strict orders to the authorities to ban the mobile app Tiktok that has mentally retarded Sinhalese children”.

Screenshot of the Facebook post published on July 1, 2020.

The post's Sinhala-language caption reads: “Give a hoot”, a saying which means “Let’s celebrate this”.

Comments on the misleading Facebook post indicated that people believed the claim in the post was true.

“Game over for those who posted retarded videos filled with filth and for those who aim to be pretend-whiteskins…” read a comment in Sinhala in response to the post.

Another Facebook user shared the post with the caption: “Finally”.

The post circulated online just days after India banned the popular video-sharing app on June 29, as reported here by AFP.

A similar claim was made on Facebook here, here, here, here, here and here.

The claim is misleading; as of July 3, TikTok remained accessible and operational in Sri Lanka.

An AFP journalist in Colombo was able to use the app after downloading it onto mobile devices via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Below is a screenshot of the functioning app on an Android device on July 3:

TikTok was functioning on an Android device on July 3, 2020.

In response to the misleading posts, Sri Lanka’s Government Information Department Director Dr. Nalaka Kaluwewa told AFP by WhatsApp on June 2, 2020 that “no official consideration” had been taken to ban TikTok in Sri Lanka.

“Some parties have raised this matter in different forums but no official consideration has been made so far,” he told AFP.

On July 4, 2020, a spokesperson for TikTok said the claim that the app was banned in Sri Lanka on July 1 was “not correct”.

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