Federal Government orders checks on social media posts for hate speech

The Federal Govenment has directed security agencies to check the propagation of hate speech, especially through social media.

The order was following a security meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja. Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, who revealed the order, described the trend of hate speech on social media as worrisome.

He went on to say that the “relevant security agencies should as a matter of urgency tackle the propagation of hate speeches through the social media, particularly by some notable Nigerians” Ali said.

Minister of information, Lai Mohammed, had last year vowed that the current administration would not regulate social media.

“We have said it before and we want to re-state it: the federal government has no immediate or long-term plan to stifle press freedom. Even the social media, with its warts and all, will neither be regulated nor have its operations tampered with,” he had said in January 2017.