Online Safety Act 2024 · As enacted · Part IX · General
52. Interpretation
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
In this Act unless the context otherwise requires–
“bot” means a computer program made or altered for the purpose of running automated tasks;
“Chairman” includes the Deputy Chairman appointed under subsection (6) of section 8;
“child” means a person under the age of eighteen years;
“coordinated inauthentic behaviour” means any coordinated activity carried out using two or more online accounts, in order to mislead the end users in Sri Lanka of any internet intermediary service as to any matter, but excludes any activity carried out using online accounts-
that are controlled by the same person; and
none of which is an inauthentic online account or is controlled by a bot;
“communicate” means communicating to one or more end users in Sri Lanka on or through the internet, a false statement or private information and includes transmitting, distributing, sharing, generating, propagating, publishing or tagging and the term
“communication” shall be construed accordingly;
“computer” means an electronic or similar device having information processing capabilities;
“computer system” means a computer or group of inter-connected computers, including the internet;
“declared online location” means an online location declared under section 28;
“false statement” means a statement that is known or believed by its maker to be incorrect or untrue and is made especially with intent to deceive or mislead but does not include a caution, an opinion or imputation made in good faith;
“inauthentic online account” means an online account that is controlled by a person other than the person represented (whether by its user, unique identifier or other information) as its holder, and the representation is made for the purpose of misleading the end users in Sri Lanka of any internet intermediary service as to the holder’s identity;
“internet service provider” means an entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user’s choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received, including those offering telecommunication services under the
Telecommunications Act, No. 25 of 1991;
“internet intermediary” means a person who provides any internet intermediary service;
“internet intermediary service” means-
a service that allows end users to access materials originating from third parties on or through the internet;
a service of transmitting such materials to end users on or through the internet;
a service of displaying, to an end user who uses the service to make an online search, an index of search results, each of which links that end user to content hosted or stored at a location which is separate from the location of the index of search results; or
a service which facilities the communication of paid content in any place by acting as the link or part of the link between the owners or operators of online locations and advertisers and internet service providers, through the means of an internet based service, but excludes any act done for the purpose of, or that is incidental to, the provision of a service of giving the public access to the internet or a computing resource service;
“material” means anything that consists of or contains a statement;
“Minister” means the Minister to whom the function of administering the provisions of this Act is assigned in terms of Article 44 or 45 of the
Constitution;
“online account” means an account created with an internet intermediary for the use of an internet intermediary service;
“online location” means any website, webpage, chatroom or forum, or any other thing that is hosted on a computer and can be seen, heard or otherwise perceived by means of the internet;
“paid content” means any statement that is communicated in any place upon payment of a consideration;
“Penal Code” means the Penal Code (Chapter 19);
“person” means a natural or legal person;
“prescribe” means prescribe by regulations;
“prohibited statement” means a statement specified in section 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 or 20;
“publish” means making available to the public on or through the internet;
“social media platform” means a service provided by an internet intermediary-
solely for the purpose of enabling online social interaction between two or more end users in Sri Lanka;
which allows end users in Sri Lanka to link to some or all of the other end users; or
which allows the end users in Sri Lanka to post material on the service, but does not include any such service of which any information communicated through the service is not accessible by the end users in Sri Lanka;
“statement” means any word including abbreviation and initial, number, image (moving or otherwise), sound, symbol or other representation, or a combination of any of these.
Any word or expression used in this Act and defined in the Penal Code but not defined in this Act shall have the same meaning assigned to such word or expression in the
Penal Code.