NGE restates its opposition to bills on hate speech and social media control

By Dan Ekah

Nigerian Guild of Editors on Thursday restated its opposition to the bill before the National Assembly on hate speech as well as moves by the Federal Government to control the social media.

The acting President of the Guild restated this position at the opening of the 15^th edition of the All Nigeria Editors conference taking place in Sokoto.

He said though the Guild of Editors is not in support and will never support fake news and hate speech, it will not accept any move to surreptitiously curtail press freedom.

“It is true that the social media space just like any other ecosystem, is being abused by some people. But we wish to place on record and to remind the promoters of these bills that there are laws already in existence to deal with such infractions. We should not shy away from testing these extant laws.” He said.

The Chairman of the occasion and former Governor of Ogun State, Aremo Segun Osoba decried that those agitating for the passage of the hate speech bill are persons that have societal issues against them.

He said the orthodox media must stand up to defend the gains it had made for freedom of expression before and since independence.