ABSTRACT

After waves of public protests that denounced long-time ruling party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, Ethiopia has experienced a political transformation that, among other things, lifted restrictions on political speech and freed prisoners of conscience. While the transformative potential of social networking sites across the nation in keeping the momentum of the protests was evident, the rise of displacements, killings, and violence amplified by ethno-nationalist discriminatory discourses on platforms such as Facebook created a fervent debate on the role of the state in regulating hate speech online. By analyzing data primarily generated from interviews with government officials, members of civil society organizations, journalists, human rights advocates, and freedom of speech activists, this study charts the promises, parameters, and challenges of Ethiopia’s hate speech and disinformation bill. Findings indicate the Ethiopian government’s alarm bell on the rise of hate speech in social networking sites and the need for an intervention to counter this threat is warranted. However, informants expressed serious concerns about the government’s choice of intervention in the form of a legislative response by highlighting the bill’s definitional/procedural gaps as well as its potential to undermine freedom of speech, the government’s track record of abusing similar bills in the past to crackdown on legitimate expressions of dissent, and lack of implementation capacity. The study concludes by offering a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder, long-term approach in addition to a legislative response to minimize occurrences as well as impacts of hate speech.

摘要

经过一连串的公开抗议活动，谴责长期执政党埃塞俄比亚人民革命民主阵线，埃塞俄比亚经历了政治转型，除其他外，解除了对政治言论的限制并释放了良心犯。尽管全国社交网站在保持抗议势头方面具有巨大的变革潜力，但流离失所，杀戮和暴力行为在诸如Facebook之类的平台上被种族民族主义歧视性话语所放大，引发了关于国家在网上规范仇恨言论。通过分析主要来自对政府官员，民间社会组织成员，记者，人权倡导者和言论自由主义者的采访所产生的数据，本研究绘制了诺言，参数以及埃塞俄比亚的仇恨言论和虚假信息法案所面临的挑战。调查结果表明，埃塞俄比亚政府对社交网站中仇恨言论的上升感到警惕，因此有必要采取干预措施来应对这一威胁。但是，线人表达了对政府以立法对策形式进行干预的选择的严重关切，强调了该法案在定义/程序上的差距以及其破坏言论自由的潜力，这是政府过去滥用类似法案的记录。镇压异议的合法表达，缺乏执行能力。该研究的结论是，除了立法响应之外，还提供了一种综合的，多利益相关方的长期方法，以最大程度地减少仇恨言论的发生和影响。埃塞俄比亚的仇恨言论和虚假信息法案面临的挑战和挑战。调查结果表明，埃塞俄比亚政府对社交网站中仇恨言论的上升感到警惕，因此有必要采取干预措施来应对这一威胁。但是，线人表达了对政府以立法对策形式进行干预的选择的严重关切，强调了该法案在定义/程序上的差距以及其破坏言论自由的潜力，这是政府过去滥用类似法案的记录。镇压异议的合法表达，缺乏执行能力。该研究的结论是，除了立法响应之外，还提供了一种综合的，多利益相关方的长期方法，以最大程度地减少仇恨言论的发生和影响。埃塞俄比亚的仇恨言论和虚假信息法案面临的挑战和挑战。调查结果表明，埃塞俄比亚政府对社交网站中仇恨言论的上升感到警惕，因此有必要采取干预措施来应对这一威胁。但是，线人通过强调法案的定义/程序上的差距以及其破坏言论自由的潜力，表达了对政府以立法回应形式进行干预的选择的严重关注，这是政府过去滥用类似法案的记录。镇压异议的合法表达，缺乏执行能力。该研究的结论是，除了立法响应之外，还提供了一种综合的，多利益相关方的长期方法，以最大程度地减少仇恨言论的发生和影响。