Online free speech is our human right, says 85% of African youth

GeoPoll polled more than 4,000 youth to understand their perceptions on social media, internet regulation, and online free speech. In the first of two segments of this analysis, GeoPoll dug into youth’s perception of their rights and the role of government with regard to online free speech and social media.

Surveying youth in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda, 85 percent of respondents stated that they consider online free speech a human right. GeoPoll then asked respondents to rate the level of free speech in their country on the following scale: very free, somewhat free, neutral, less free, and not free. Sixty-three percent of respondents found the level of free speech in their country to be free (38% very free and 25% somewhat free). Only 14 percent of respondents find the level of free speech in their country to be less or not free (10% less free and 4% not free). Among the five countries polled, 64 percent of Ghanaians reported “very free,” the highest level among all countries. Conversely, Nigerians and Ugandans made up two-thirds of all respondents who indicated less free and not free.

GeoPoll then sought to understand perceptions of free speech as it relates to social media. Among the 4,213 respondents from all five selected countries, 17 percent of respondents indicated they posted more than 20 times a week on social media, 10 percent noted they posted to social media between 11 and 20 times, and 28 percent said they posted to social media between 6 and 10 times per day. Forty-five percent of respondents responded they only posted to social media less than 5 times a day. Ghana (20%), South Africa (19%), and Uganda (19%) had a larger share of respondents who post on social media more than 20 times per week when compared to Nigeria (16%) and Kenya (14%).

When asked if one has shared or shares their political views on social media, GeoPoll found respondents split nearly down the middle. Fifty-four percent of respondents said they had not/did not share their political views on social media, while 46 percent said they had or did. Out of the five countries surveyed, Nigerian respondents are more likely to share their political views on social media (51%) compared to their Ghanaian counterparts (31%).

In an earlier nationwide survey among youth in Kenya, 34 percent indicated that they use social media to address issues affecting them; however, they fear reprisal for their outspokenness with 59 percent sighting their safety as a motivator that would help them take action on important issues.

When Free Speech Becomes Hate Speech

Respondents were asked to rate the following statement, “Social Media makes it easier to post and see hate speech” on a scale from I strongly agree, to, I strongly disagree. Eighty-nine percent of all respondents agreed that it is easier to post and see hate speech on social media (41% “I strongly agree”, 40% “I somewhat agree”, 7% “I agree”). In South Africa, over half of respondents (55%) indicated they strongly agreed to the statement.

Government Regulation

This sentiment aligned with perceptions of government regulation on social media. When asked why they would support a government regulation of social media, most (24%) felt that a regulation would be effective in preventing hate speech. Kenya has the highest percentage of youth who picked hate speech as the reason for regulation at 36%.

A majority of youth polled do not mind regulation of the internet by their governments. When asked if governments should regulate the use of social media, 54 percent of respondents believed the government should regulate social media; 46 percent indicated they did not want the government to regulate social media. Ghana has the highest number of respondents (61%) who favor the government regulating the use of social media followed by Kenya (58%), Nigeria (54%), South Africa (52%), with the least being  Ugandans with only 46% supporting a regulation.