Democracies across the world are grappling with the twin problems of hate speech and disinformation. The internet, as a common platform for communication, has been weaponised to spread a concoction of untruths, abuse and biases with far-ranging consequences.
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Democracies across the world are grappling with the twin
problems of hate speech and disinformation. The internet, as a
common platform for communication, has been weaponised to spread a
concoction of untruths, abuse and biases with far-ranging
consequences. The European Union is of the view that these
phenomena, if left unchecked, have the potential to undermine faith
in electoral processes and subvert democratic institutions. In
response, the EU has warned social media companies of greater
liability for permitting or wilfully ignoring such speech on their
platforms. United Kingdom lawmakers published a report in 2018 calling for stricter government
regulation of social media companies and a clear definition of
'disinformation'. In late 2019, reports emerged of disinformation campaigns
allegedly coordinated by Russian actors in several African
countries including Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya,
Mozambique and Sudan. The campaigns focused on
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