Saritha Irugalbandara (they/her) is a Researcher at the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), focusing on digital extremism and online harms across South Asia.
Previously, they were the Head of Programs at Hashtag Generation, a youth-led civil society organization in Sri Lanka mobilizing social and new media tools to catalyze civic participation and awareness-raising on digitally mediated harms. They are experienced in developing
intersectional and longitudinal methodologies for social listening, and designed and led Sri Lanka’s first trilingual, longitudinal mapping of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
In 2022, Saritha served as a gender and legal expert developing the Sri Lanka Code of Practice for Online Safety and Responsible Content and has led national and international mobilization on the Online Safety Act and digital authoritarianism in Sri Lanka.
