Civil Society lobbies Facebook to block pages promoting hate speech in South Sudan

Civil Society lobbies Facebook to block pages promoting hate speech in South Sudan

Civil Society lobbies Facebook to block pages promoting hate speech in South Sudan

27 Oct 2016

Civil Society lobbies Facebook to block pages promoting hate speech in South Sudan

Machrine Birungi

The Executive Director of the Community for Progress Organization, is lobbying a US-based social media platform, Facebook, to either block or censor pages that incite and promote hate speech in South Sudan. 

Civil Society leader, Edmund Yakani, met with the US Ambassador to the United Nation, Samantha Power, and discussed the vital need to end hate speech and ethnic targeting in the country.

During the meeting in New York City, last week, Yakani briefed Ambassador Power about the dangers social media is posing in South Sudan.  Yakani noted that hate speech is being generated by politically minded people who “open various social media accounts and post hate motivated messaging, slogans and pictures, causing panic in the country.”

Speaking to Radio Miraya, Yakani said that civil society is trying to ensure online platforms like Facebook cease to offer opportunities for online hate speech.

“Let them help us in terms of social media control, the idea is that if there is anything about South Sudan, it categorizes ethnicity it categorizes hate speech, like uploading wrong pictures let them help us by blocking it,” said Yakani. He acknowledged that the problem of hate speech must be dealt with because it is becoming increasingly dangerous.

“There is an urgent need to deal with hate speech and ethnic targeting,” said Yakani “violence is not an option, we deserve to live together peacefully,” he stressed.

As part of the steps being taken to control hate speech, civil society organizations in South Sudan must send vital messages to young people across the country stressing,  “hate speech is not the best way to deal with issues,” said Yakani.

In a related development, the UN High commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has warned that an increase in hate speech and the ultimate incitement of violence in South Sudan is highly dangerous and could very well result in mass atrocities if not reined in immediately.

Zeid urged President Salva Kiir and all leaders with influence to urgently and unambiguously condemn the incitement to violence and to take urgent measures to defuse the tensions.