Hong Kong (CNN Business) Sri Lanka has banned social media again following a reported flare-up in religious tensions, three weeks after a series of suicide bombings rocked the country.

Facebook FB and its mobile messaging platform WhatsApp were both blocked on Monday, as was another popular messaging app, Viber, a senior Sri Lankan government official said.

The platforms were blocked to prevent "social unrest via hate messages and false information," Nalaka Kaluwewa, director general of the country's Department of Government Information, told CNN.

Kaluwewa added that restrictions were also imposed on Google's video platform, YouTube.

The social media crackdown followed alleged attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in a northwestern town over the weekend. Reuters reported that the violence broke out because of an argument on Facebook.