The second reading of the Online Safety Bill has been passed by a majority of 46 votes.
After the debate on the second reading of the bill, the vote was held in Parliament this afternoon (24).
There, 108 votes were received in favor of the bill.
Only 62 votes were received against this.
Accordingly, the Speaker informed the Parliament that the second reading of the Online Safety Bill has been passed by a majority vote.
Then amendments were added to the bill during the committee stage.
Member of Parliament Mr. Chandima Veerakkodi requested a vote on the amendment submitted for the 36th section of the bill.
Accordingly, in the voting held, 51 votes were in favor of the amendment, and 92 votes were received against it.
Thus, the relevant amendment was defeated by a majority of 41 votes.
The third reading of the bill was then passed without a vote.
Many people, civil organizations, political parties protested against this draft, as well as the United Nations Human Rights Office, the International Human Rights Watch (HRW), international non-governmental organizations, the Asian Internet Alliance, an international organization that includes tech giants such as Google, Apple and Meta. International organizations had strongly opposed the implementation of this bill, criticizing it as restricting the freedom of speech of the people of this country.
While preparing this draft, the government had said that it had discussed with the Asian Internet Alliance and included the amendments, but the alliance had pointed out that the amendments they had submitted had not been properly included in the draft, and if this is the case, it would not be possible to present drafts in this manner.
