Sri Lankan government BANS Facebook and Whatsapp access

The government of Sri Lanka blocked its citizens from accessing social media and messaging apps today in the aftermath of a series of co-coordinated terrorist bombings which killed more than 200 people.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger were all either inaccesible, or operating so poorly as to make them unusable, following the ban. 

This morning eight explosions at churches and five star hotels killed 207 including five Britons, and wounded 450, at sites in and around the capital Columbo, and on the east coast.

Hours later a ninth improved explosive - a six foot pipe bomb - was found at the country's main international airport during a routine patrol, and disposed of safely.

The government declared a curfew with immediate effect after the morning's devastation.

Nine social networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and Whatsapp, had '0% reachability', online monitoring organisation Netblocks reported

Nine social networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and Whatsapp, had '0% reachability', online monitoring organisation Netblocks reported

The scene of devastation this morning as Sri Lankan security personnel walked past dead bodies covered with blankets amid blast debris at St. Anthony's Shrine following an explosion in the church in Kochchikade in Colombo

The scene of devastation this morning as Sri Lankan security personnel walked past dead bodies covered with blankets amid blast debris at St. Anthony's Shrine following an explosion in the church in Kochchikade in Colombo

Junior defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene said: 'A curfew will be imposed until things settle down.' 

Government officials told reporters on the ground that major social media networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp, had been blocked inside the country to prevent misinformation and rumours. 

'This was a unilateral decision,' said Harindra Dassanayake, an adviser to the Sri Lankan president, told the New York Times - suggesting the US-owned corporations had not been consulted on the block.

Officials blocked the platforms, he said, out of fear that misinformation about the attacks and hate speech could spread, provoking more violence.

Netblocks, an

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