REGULATING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A WAY OF CHECKING HATE SPEECH IN NIGERIA

REGULATING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A WAY OF CHECKING HATE SPEECH IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The age of information technology can be characterized as the twenty-first century. Almost all human endeavors are powered by technology. Hate speech has recently shifted from using traditional word-of-mouth to using social media. One of the major challenges of electioneering in the 21st century is that, due to the faceless nature of the internet, social media spreads propaganda, false information, and hate speeches, these go viral and are used to manipulate the population. In this essay, the topic of regulating social media to prevent hate speech is explored.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

According to Marshall McLuhan’s theory, the rise of globalization has transformed the world into a global village. In order to promote the globalization of the world, information communication technologies (ICT) had to be developed. In order to further link individuals around the world through knowledge, social media platforms were subsequently created. Social media, which is both an outcome of and a product of the global revolution, has changed both the social and political landscape of the world. Here, it’s crucial to emphasize that social media is not a brand-new idea. There have been a good number of social media platforms before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others. Examples of these platforms are Classmates, Sixdegrees, and Ryze. In the meantime, new internet-based social media networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and internet service have emerged in the twenty-first century. “Many facets of human communication have been revolutionized by the introduction of these new social media platforms. As a result, social media is now a natural part of daily life for individuals everywhere (Ajayi & Adesote, 2015: 48). The claim that “social media applications are not new and that their origins can be traced to years older than 2005” has been made by Allen (2012) and Scholz (2008).

They claimed that blogs existed at the end of the 1990s, that Ward Cunningham proposed the idea for wiki technology in 1994, that it was initially distributed in 1995, that social networking sites existed in 1995, and that Google was created in 1999. (Cited in Fuchs, 2014:34). This suggests that social media is not as recent as it been made up to be.

Social media was created in order to further encourage sociability and connectivity of people around the globe as Internet applications developed.

But, “the use of social media has gone beyond engaging in entertainment or merely conversing with friends and family. It has been and continues to be a vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge, which has sparked global political shifts. The rise of social media is a phenomenon that has altered how people connect, communicate, and share information in the twenty-first century (Ajayi & Adesote, 2015).

Due to increased internet accessibility, the use of social media in politics has increased in many African nations in recent years. This has also resulted in a rise in hate speech.

The most popular websites in Nigeria include social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They have evolved into true tools for spreading hate speech propaganda because of their participatory, interactive, and cost-effective character (Ajayi & Adesote, 2015:48).

Despite the good advantages of social media, it has been noted that it has also helped spread false information, fake news, and defamation, particularly during election seasons. Moreover, hate speech and violence are encouraged on social media, which has an impact on neighborhood tranquility.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Social media hate speech virtually ever goes unreported. No matter their status, identity, geography, or anything else, anyone could be the target of nasty remarks in content. Even when hate speech does not result in a hate crime, the damage is done because victims are stigmatized, marginalized, and subjected to unfavorable stereotypes. Dehumanization of people or groups of people may be the overall result of internet hatred. There is no debate that effective tactics are required to combat hate speech on social media. The thesis’ main objective is to pinpoint the key issues that are responsible for the construction of the current reality. An in-depth examination of both the theoretical underpinnings of hate speech as protected under international human rights standards and the actual implementation of those norms is required to identify the contributing causes.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this project is to control hate speech in Nigeria via regulating social media.
The particular goals are;
1.To gain a general understanding of hate speech and its impact on people.
2.To ascertain the causes of the widespread use of hate speech.
3. To identify the main challenges to controlling hate speech on social media.
4. To offer suggestions regarding the topic

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the causes of the prevalence of hate
2. What are the principal challenges to policing hate speech on social media?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study looks into how to control hate speech in Nigeria through regulating social media. Everyone would benefit from this work, including the government and the general public, and it would be useful to researchers looking to study hate speech on social media.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study’s focus is on social media regulation as a means of limiting hate speech in Nigeria. The information needed to evaluate the hypotheses would be collected through questionnaires. However, the following limitations were identified during the course of this investigation, so:

Financially, a project of this kind is highly taxing; at various points during the research, money had to be spent, but resources that may have helped the study be carried out properly were not adequately available.

Time factor: The amount of time spent conducting the research is generally insufficient to yield the most useful results. But I’m hoping that what little is in this report will help to address a lot of bigger issues.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Domestic violence: This is the abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the bases of race, religion, or sexual orientation

SOCIAL MEDIA: These are websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

For ease of understanding, this study effort is divided into five chapters as follows: The first chapter is devoted to the introduction, which includes an overview of the study, its historical context, explanation of the problem, study objectives, research hypotheses, relevance of the study, its scope and limitations, definition of words, and its historical context. The review of related literature is highlighted in Chapter 2 in order to provide the theoretical foundation for the study. The third chapter covers the study’s methodology and research strategy. The gathering, processing, and presentation of data are the main topics of Chapter 4. The study’s summary, conclusion, and suggestions are presented in Chapter 5.