Young People Against Hate Speech on Social Media in Cameroon

 

For the past few years, Cameroon has experienced an upsurge in hate speech on various social media platforms which goes under-reported though punishable by law. The unrest in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon has created an opportunity where both opposing camps have used social media and other digital instruments to fan misinformation and hate speech. Ngwa Christel, a social media user says inflammatory remarks have corrupted social media causing chaos.

Social media surfer, Ngwa Christel.

   " Social media handles especially Facebook has a lot of information. People share false information which angers people most times and the consequences are always alarming when you look at the comment section.  For example in  2018, a social media user called people from Nso, an ethnic group in the North region "illiterates". Since the said surfer was from Pinyin also an ethnic group in Cameroon, these social media accounts targeted in their defense term people from Pinyin "dirty" Ngwa intimated. 

Chungom Emmanuel Fuhbingum, a final year student studying Communication and Development studies at the University of Bamenda explicates that he counters hate speech with inflammatory phrases when targeted online.

"My ethnic group has been a target of hate speech online countless times. Between 2022 and 2023, a popular page on Facebook called 237 Palava shared a post stating that men from my tribal group Bafut,  are not "generous" as compared to men from other ethnic groups in the North West Region of Cameroon.  Filled with rage I  decided to target the surfer with more hateful messages to get a pinch of how I felt when I saw that message on his page" Chungom explicates.

It is recurrent to find social media users exchanging blows on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and a host of other online platforms using inflammatory language or phrases to qualify each other or ethnic groups. Amabo Chris Abonwi who falls under the youthful age group approaches every hateful post with the aim to educate.

 Social media user, Amabo Chris Abonwi.

 "I have not come across a hateful message that is directed to me or my ethnic group on social media. However, when I come across any hateful message on social media directed at someone or an ethnic group, I educate the perpetrator. If he or she doesn't take down the post, I report it to the said social media community help page so the publication can be taken down prohibiting it from going viral and causing more harm and disunity" Amabo enunciates.

These are not isolated cases in Cameroon. The cases are generic because hate speech emanates from ethnic diversity, prejudice, and stereotypes in Cameroon. The poisonous discourse which is any kind of communication that uses inflammatory language on a person or group based on religion, ethnicity, descent, or other identity factors, existed offline before social media in Cameroon. 

The most used social media applications are WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn,  Twitter, Tiktok, and Facebook topping the charts with 4,214,600 users in December 2022 accounting for 14.9% of Cameroon's entire population according to NapoleonCat. Since most young people rely on social media for information, fake news, misinformation, and hate speech have become common for them to feed on.

Under the pretext of comedy, youths have shared untrue and hateful messages targeting certain ethnic groups, towns, and regions. Common hateful expressions on social media include " Les Bamenda" which denotes someone who is minimized, "Francofou" which translates to “Francophones are fools”,  "Anglofou" which translates to "Anglophones are fools" creating animosity in the online space. Victims of hateful comments online oftentimes react with more hateful messages against the said social media account that targets them and even their regions which transcends to hate, fear, discrimination violence which threatens the peace of the country offline.

It should be noted that social media platforms have over the years continue to find different new techniques to monitor and counter hate speech on their platforms especially Facebook which is widely used. Facebook community standard does not permit any form of hate speech and oftentimes take down any post made in the form of text, video, or image that is misleading or hateful. 

In the same light, the Cameroon government has enacted Law No. 2010/12 on cybersecurity and cyber criminality which punishes anyone that disseminates hate speech online. To strengthen efforts in fighting hate speech online,  the government through The Ministry of Youth and Civic Education on January 16th 2023, launched a call for applications for the recruitment of 1000 youths to fight hate speech online and promote peace.

Organizations in Cameroon are working tirelessly to mitigate hate online and also offline. The #thinkBeforeYouClick Campaign and social media hate speech mitigation field guide by defyhatenow which provides strategies and tools to combat hate speech online and foster peace are some of the efforts grassroots organizations have been using in their training. The social media hate speech mitigation field guide which is used across the country is translated into French, English, and even in pidgin, a language widely spoken in Cameroon for the common man to understand the whole concept of misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, and how it can be mitigated. 

Advocates and Digital experts in the same fashion connote that "the question that should be on every youth's lips should be how can we as youth work together to combat hate speech on social media which transcends offline?". As opposed to Chungom Emmanuel Fuhbingum who counters hate speech with more hate speech, these experts recommend that young people rather speak up calmly but firmly against hate speech making it clear that they do not agree with the content of the statement shared.

Mitigating hate speech also entails reacting and reporting cases of hate speech to social media platforms for going against their community standards and national authorities for going against the law on cybersecurity which punishes anyone who shares hateful messages online. A social media account brought down or a person facing imprisonment for making inflammatory remarks will raise eyebrows amongst social media users.

Taking action against hate speech also means creating awareness, educating, and spreading critical thinking amongst social media users in order to have a healthier use, consumption, circulation, and production of content on social media. Youths educating social media accounts about the risks that hate speech poses to human rights, peace, and development while acting and promoting responsible behavior online which will go a long way to encourage social media users to follow in their footsteps, the aspect of behavioral change. 

Forming a coalition online, having conversations, writing poems, and recording short sensitization videos thriving to educate social media accounts is another technique to combating hate speech online. Mitigating  hate speech online demands quality efforts and youths can factor it into their everyday post or activities online for a hate free Cameroon using the same hashtags for better reach.

By Pechuqui Laurata.

Photo credit: Internet.