{"id":93925,"date":"2025-09-13T11:12:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93925"},"modified":"2025-09-13T11:12:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T11:12:28","slug":"we-must-draw-the-line-between-hate-speech-and-incitement-bright-simons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93925","title":{"rendered":"We must draw the line between hate speech and incitement \u2013 Bright Simons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Honorary Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has stressed the need for Ghana to clearly distinguish between hate speech and incitement in order to safeguard free expression while protecting national security.<\/p>\n

He made the remarks on JoyNews\u2019s Newsfile programme on Saturday, September 13, in response to President Mahama\u2019s announcement of new measures to monitor online abuse.<\/p>\n

Mr Simons explained that while hate speech is offensive and divisive, incitement carries the greater danger of provoking violence and unrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be very clear in our minds where hate speech ends and where incitement begins. Hate speech is unpleasant, but incitement is where the line is crossed, and that is what threatens public order,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

His comments followed President Mahama\u2019s disclosure that the National Signals Bureau (NSB) has been equipped with advanced technology to track individuals who spread hate via social media, using the IP addresses of their devices.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging the government\u2019s concerns, Mr Simons cautioned that such surveillance must not erode civil liberties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not create an environment where ordinary citizens feel criminalised for expressing themselves. The real focus must be on those who deliberately incite violence,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Mr Simons urged policymakers and civil society to work together to develop clear legal definitions and safeguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we fail to draw this line properly, we risk undermining democratic freedoms while at the same time not effectively tackling the real danger, which is incitement to violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"WeHonorary Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has stressed the need for Ghana to clearly distinguish between hate speech and incitement in order to safeguard free expression while protecting national security.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2840,8472,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bright-simons","category-hate-speech","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}