A businessman has been handed a six-month suspended prison sentence for spreading misleading information about former State Minister Kader Masthan on social media, following a complaint filed under the Online Safety Act.
The businessman is accused of spreading audio recordings on social media platforms, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, containing misleading information about the former State Minister.
Issuing the order this week, Colombo Chief Magistrate Thilina Gamage ordered the execution of the sentence to be suspended for a period of five years and also imposed a fine of Rs. 5000 on the suspect. This is the first reported case of a punishment being given under the Online Safety Act passed earlier this year.
The judge also ordered the suspect to immediately remove all the statements that he had published on social media about the former state minister.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate had previously issued a conditional injunction on the businessman from Mannar after taking into consideration a complaint filed by former state minister Kader Masthan under the Online Safety Act. M.U.M Ali Sabry PC appeared for the petitioner. (Newswire)
