The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and intelligence agencies have launched investigations into nearly 20 people from various backgrounds suspected of using fake social media accounts to provoke tensions and conflict between ethnic and religious communities in Sri Lanka.
Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala said the Government had given the matter special attention.
As some of the accounts were operated from overseas, the Government had launched a special programme to obtain information about those responsible through diplomatic missions.
Police said information had also emerged suggesting that some individuals were acting at the instigation of certain politicians.
The Minister said the CID and the Terrorism Investigation Division had investigated six complaints concerning the spread of hate speech over the past decade.
With social media use increasing rapidly in Sri Lanka, some individuals both locally and overseas were creating fake accounts to spread ethnic and religious hatred between communities, he said.
Wijepala said law enforcement authorities faced several practical obstacles when investigating such incidents. These included the absence of formal complaints in some cases, accounts being operated from overseas and limitations in the existing legal framework.
However, he stressed that police were continuing efforts to identify those behind the fake accounts and bring them before the law.
The Minister also said a 26-year-old resident of Ibbagamuwa had been arrested on suspicion of spreading hate speech through fake social media accounts using Muslim names.
According to Wijepala, the suspect had created WhatsApp groups using Muslim names and circulated false and misleading messages claiming that an attack targeting the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and other prominent Buddhist sites was planned for November 11, 2026.
