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Hate Speech Bill: There Must Be Penalty For “Insensitive” Posts –Keyamo

December 2, 2019

Revealing his support for the Hate Speech Bill in a series of tweets on Monday, Keyamo said activists, who oppose the bill seeking to regulate social media should stop blocking people that irritate them on such platforms.

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Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, has said that there must be consequences for people, who post "insensitive" contents on the Internet.

Revealing his support for the Hate Speech Bill in a series of tweets on Monday, Keyamo said activists, who oppose the bill seeking to regulate social media should stop blocking people that irritate them on such platforms.

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 and insensitive posts that would attract penal consequences, so that government doesn’t abuse it. But to leave everyone to just post anything is unacceptable.”