Minister
of state for labour and productivity, Festus Keyamo on Monday endorsed social
media bill saying there must be a penalty for posting false information on
social media.
The Minister in a series of tweets said activists who oppose the Bill seeking to regulate social media should stop blocking people who irritate
them on the platforms.
He also said they should apologise to those they have blocked.
He
said,“Those so-called overnight Social Media ‘activists’ who oppose the Social
Media Bill should first stop blocking those who irritate them with insults,
unblock all those they have blocked and apologise to them. You can’t be
intolerant and ask others to be. Practice what you preach.
“Some
cannot differentiate the Social Media Bill from the Hate Speech Bill. Whilst no
reasonable person will support death sentence for hate speech, you can’t come
online to say something totally untrue that can put other lives in danger
without some kind of penal consequence
“The real agitation should be for Parliament, in line with
S.36(12) of the 1999 Constitution, to clearly define the TYPES of false &
insensitive posts that would attract penal consequences, so that govt doesn’t
abuse it. But to leave everyone to just post ANYTHING is unacceptable.”
Keyamo said no one should be allowed to post false information
in the name of free speech.
“Civil suits on Defamation of character only take care of
PERSONAL INSULTS. I don’t subscribe to punishment for that. But you cannot come
online to deliberately post false stories, in the guise of ‘freedom of speech’,
that can set the nation ablaze without some penal consequences,” the minister
said.
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