Facebook assured Sri Lanka that strict measures are in place to ensure the safety and security of users.

Addressing a virtual media briefing, Facebook officials said that user information is not even freely available to the Sri Lankan Police.

Amber Hawkes, Head of Safety Policy, Asia Pacific at Facebook said in response to a question raised that there is a strict criteria to follow for the law enforcement authorities seeking information.

“We have what is called basic subscriber information. Its limited information. They can request that only if there has been a violation of local laws they are investigating. Our teams will then asses it on a legal basis. We also have a team that provides training to local law enforcement about how to use our portal to request that kind of information and the parameters for it, which are very cl;ear and very limited,” she said.

She also said that if the law enforcement authorities want information on contest published on Facebook they will need to go through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process.

“Its an international legal framework for requesting that kind of information,” she added.

She also said that users should ensure they go through their privacy settings as having the information in public means anyone can access it.

The local Police have in recent times said that they are monitoring social media and at times even track people using social media platforms like Facebook