Media Forward 2025 was held from 24–26 November 2025 in Colombo, organised by UNDP Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Broadcasters’ Guild, Hashtag Generation, Factum, Verité Media and Politics, the Media Law Forum, the Free Media Movement, and the Sri Lanka Digital Journalists’ Association. LIRNEasia Research Fellow Ashwini Natesan joined as a panelist for the first session of the event, titled ‘Strengthening Coordination and Shared Accountability in Digital Spaces’. The other panelists were Senura Abeywardena (Head of Public Policy, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka at Meta), Ranga Kalansooriya, PhD (Asia Regional Advisor, International Media Support), Rajitha Mahanama (Sub Inspector, Computer Crime Investigation Division), and Saranee Gunathilaka, PhD (Director – Strategy and Operations, Hashtag Generation). The discussion was moderated by Prihesh Ratnayake (Research Specialist, Factum). Ashwini spoke on platform accountability, the Online Safety Act (OSA), and the impact of online harms on women and children. 
Media Forward 2025 was held from 24–26 November 2025 in Colombo, organised by UNDP Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Broadcasters’ Guild, Hashtag Generation, Factum, Verité Media and Politics, the Media Law Forum, the Free Media Movement, and the Sri Lanka Digital Journalists’ Association. LIRNEasia Research Fellow Ashwini Natesan joined as a panelist for the first session of the event, titled ‘Strengthening Coordination and Shared Accountability in Digital Spaces’. The other panelists were Senura Abeywardena (Head of Public Policy, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka at Meta), Ranga Kalansooriya, PhD (Asia Regional Advisor, International Media Support), Rajitha Mahanama (Sub Inspector, Computer Crime Investigation Division), and Saranee Gunathilaka, PhD (Director – Strategy and Operations, Hashtag Generation). The discussion was moderated by Prihesh Ratnayake (Research Specialist, Factum). Ashwini spoke on platform accountability, the Online Safety Act (OSA), and the impact of online harms on women and children. 
In an article published on 22 November 2025 in the Daily FT, Attorney-at-Law and LIRNEasia Researcher Sachini Ranasinghe raised concerns about the Online Safety Act (OSA) and its implications for free expression. She argues that Sri Lanka already had effective civil remedies for defamation, including cases involving online content, long before the OSA. Sachini highlights that disputes previously resolved through civil courts are now increasingly channeled through the OSA, shifting them into the criminal justice system and posing risks to free expression. Rather than criminalizing speech, she calls for strengthening civil defamation mechanisms by speeding up injunctions and reducing delays. Read the full article in the Daily FT. 
2025 සැප්තැම්බර් 28 වන දින “ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතට (Online Safety Act) කළ යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?” යන තේමාව යටතේ පැවති කතිකාවකදී, ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ කනිෂ්ඨ පර්යේෂක නීතිඥ සචිනි රණසිංහ ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතේ දුර්වලතා පිළිබඳව අදහස් පළ කළාය. පනතේ ප්රධාන දුර්වලතා ලෙස ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නේ මෙම පනතට අයත් වැරදි අපැහැදිලි, පුළුල් සහ අවිනිශ්චිත ලෙස නිර්වචනය කර ඇති බවත්, රටේ දැනට පවතින දණ්ඩ නීති මගින් මෙම පනත යටතේ ඇති සමහරක් වැරදි දැනටමත් ආවරණය වන බවත් ය. මෙම කතිකාව සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වන ජාතික ව්යාපාරය විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද අතර ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රොහාන් සමරජීව මහතා විසින් මෙහෙයවන ලදී. ඇයගේ කරුණු පැහැදිලි කිරීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන් නරඹන්න. 
On 13th August, a public notice calling for comments on the Online Safety Act No 09 of 2024 (“OSA”) and the proposed amendments published in July 2024 was released. It is a welcome move since the OSA was not open for public consultation in the past. While there are many aspects that warrant a review, here is a short summary of a few clauses that need amendments. Online Safety Commission Section Criticism Recommendation Reason for recommendation / amendment Section 5- Appointment of the members of the Commission The provision states that appointment will be made by President “subject to the approval of the Constitutional Council”. This could lead to confusion and interpretation that the approval is a mere formality.