{"id":424,"date":"2024-06-26T02:34:48","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T01:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediadefence.org\/ereader\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=424"},"modified":"2024-06-26T02:34:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T01:34:50","slug":"the-danger-of-vagueness","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.mediadefence.org\/ereader\/publications\/introductory-modules-on-digital-rights-and-freedom-of-expression-online\/module-6-hate-speech\/the-danger-of-vagueness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Danger of Vagueness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The obvious danger in regulating hate speech is that vagueness in the definition of what constitutes a criminal act will be used to penalise expression that has neither the intent nor the realistic possibility of inciting hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.movedemocracy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Hate-Speech-Bill.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill<\/a> in Nigeria is an example. It proposes that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and\/or directs the performance of any material, written and or visual which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It further proposed the punishment of persons guilty of this offence with life in prison or, if the act results in the loss of life, the death sentence. Since 2019, the Bill has been <a href=\"https:\/\/orderpaper.ng\/2023\/10\/28\/bill-of-the-week-resurrection-of-the-social-media-bill\/\">reported<\/a> as being an \u201cepic fail\u201d and received opposition from ordinary citizens and civil society organisations. In 2023, Nigeria then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africanews.com\/2023\/10\/11\/nigeria-proposes-new-social-media-regulations\/\">introduced<\/a> the National Broadcasting Commission Bill which regulates digital platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Civil society has argued that such a broad definition is open to subjective interpretation by law enforcement and would pose a threat to critical opinion, satire, public dialogue, and political commentary, and is particularly concerning in light of the exceptionally harsh penalties imposed.[footnote]Amnesty International, \u2018Nigeria: Bills on hate speech and social media are dangerous attacks on freedom of expression,\u2019 (2019) (accessible at https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/press-release\/2019\/12\/nigeria-bills-on-hate-speech-and-social-media-are-dangerous-attacks-on-freedom-of-expression\/),See also Sandra Eke, \u2018Nigeria: A Review Of The Hate Speech Bill,\u2019 (2020) Mondaq (accessible at https:\/\/www.mondaq.com\/nigeria\/human-rights\/880810\/a-review-of-the-hate-speech-bill).[\/footnote]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The obvious danger in regulating hate speech is that vagueness in the definition of what constitutes a criminal act will be used to penalise expression that has neither the intent nor the realistic possibility of inciting hatred. The proposed Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill in Nigeria is an example. It proposes that: \u201cAny person who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":415,"menu_order":280,"template":"page-templates\/chapter.php","publication-category":[],"class_list":["post-424","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Danger of Vagueness | eReader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vagueness in regulating hate speech risks being used to penalise expression that has neither the intent nor the realistic possibility of inciting hatred.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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