FG to monitor social media posts, orders arrest for hate speech

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered security agencies to curb the spread of hate speech, especially through social media.

The directive was given during a security meeting order at the presidential villa in Abuja.

The president had in his address given upon his return from his second medical leave declared his administration’s zero-tolerance for hate speech and warned those who regularly cross the “red line”.


“Relevant security agencies should as a matter of urgency tackle the propagation of hate speeches through the social media, particularly by some notable Nigerians,” Mansur Dan Ali, minister of defence, said.

This might spark fears of a social media crackdown though Minister of Information Lai Mohammed had allayed such fears last year.

“We have said it before and we want to re-state it: the federal government has no immediate or long-term plan to stifle press freedom. Even the social media, with its warts and all, will neither be regulated nor have its operations tampered with,” he said.