South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Benjamin Takpiny
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has said that social media platforms of most club houses are increasingly promoting and encouraging hate speech across the country.
Clubhouses are social interest groups that engage in daily interaction among close people. These could be in schools, universities and workplaces.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of CEPO said they tracked social media platforms of 17club houses from May-July, 2024 and CEPO and found out that they had turned into platforms for hate speech, hostile propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation
“This is really enhancing further breakdown of the broken social fabric and strengthening the growth of violence, culture of extremism among the South Sudanese,” said Yakani in a statement issued in Juba on Monday.
He suggested that hosts of social media platforms of clubhouses develop rules to moderate views expressed by members of these social media platforms.
“CEPO is worried that the negative use of the clubhouses platforms is on rise and harder to control by the hosts of the clubhouses who appear not capable of controlling the public conservations. It is increasingly turning many users to promote violent culture of negative tribalism, and use of violence as a means of mitigating political and social grievances among South Sudanese,” said Yakani.
He said that CEPO will engage in sensitizing and raising awareness among South Sudanese who are active in these social media platforms on the positive use of these platforms for promotion of peace and social cohesion.
Yakani admitted that control of conversations across various social media platforms on hate speech, hostile propaganda, misinformation and disinformation is very difficult.
“Out of 17 club houses, only 5 hosts of these clubhouses were able to control at reasonable level the use of hate speech, hostile propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and clubhouses bully. This means only 29% of the 17 tracked clubhouses hosts were able to have skills of controlling hate speech, hostile propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and clubhouses bully,” he disclosed.
He added that over 63% of the 17 clubhouses platforms offer space for promotion of hate speech, hostile propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and bullying.
In addition, he noted that over 16% of the 17 clubhouses platforms offer space for accurate information and knowledge sharing including defying hate speech and fighting hostile propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and clubhouse bully.
Yakani said that over 11% of the 17 clubhouse platforms offer space for promotion of peace, social cohesion and reconciliation, adding about 10% of the 17 clubhouses offer space for amplification of voices for war and violence.