In today’s digital age, social media has become an integral part of children’s daily lives, shaping how they interact, communicate, and build friendships. In an article published in The Daily Star, LIRNEasia Senior Research Fellow Sujata Gamage examines the growing dependence of children on social media and the risks associated with these platforms. She argues that while digital platforms may not be suitable environments for children, addressing these challenges requires more than restricting access. As physical spaces for children to socialise, play, explore, and form meaningful friendships continue to disappear, rebuilding safe physical spaces is essential to creating a healthier social ecology of childhood. 
In today’s digital age, social media has become an integral part of children’s daily lives, shaping how they interact, communicate, and build friendships. In an article published in The Daily Star, LIRNEasia Senior Research Fellow Sujata Gamage examines the growing dependence of children on social media and the risks associated with these platforms. She argues that while digital platforms may not be suitable environments for children, addressing these challenges requires more than restricting access. As physical spaces for children to socialise, play, explore, and form meaningful friendships continue to disappear, rebuilding safe physical spaces is essential to creating a healthier social ecology of childhood. 
In an article published in the Daily FT on 30 June 2026, Attorney-at-Law and LIRNEasia Researcher Sachini Ranasinghe examines the Private Member’s Bill proposed by Opposition MP Faiszer Musthapha, which seeks to restrict social media access for children under the age of 16 in Sri Lanka. She argues that the key question is not whether children need stronger protection online, but whether Sri Lanka is proposing the right solution and has undertaken the groundwork necessary to make such legislation effective. 
The report “Social Media Regulation and the Rule of Law: Key Trends in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh”, which was launched recently in Colombo, examines the balance between state security, human rights, and the role of social media across these South Asian nations. This collaborative effort involves Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Rule of Law Programme Asia, LIRNEasia Sri Lanka, the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) at the National Law University Delhi (NLUD) India, and the School of Law at BRAC University Bangladesh. The report provides several crucial observations and recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders alike: Key observations from the report: Bangladesh and India provide conditional liability exemptions for third-party content hosted by intermediaries, but recent legislative trends suggest a weakening of safe harbour protection. Across all three countries, centralisation of power with the executive is evident, resulting in regulatory frameworks lacking effective judicial and parliamentary oversight over blocking orders, internet suspensions, and user data requests. The centralisation of power with the executive has also fostered a lack of transparency and accountability in government actions, often justified by state security interests. 
A new Bill on Online Safety was recently published in the Gazzette and has now been presented to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The Bill has drawn widespread commentary and criticism; the analysis done by LIRNEasia on the Bill can be found here. One issue the Bill attempts to address is the takedown of ‘harmful’ content. Online platforms enable the very rapid dissemination of user generated content (UGC), including potentially harmful content. Laws such as the Online Safety Bill attempt to address this through administrative actions or court orders.