Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), says it recorded 319 hate speeches on social media between Jan. 1 and Jan.31.
Its Director Programmes, Malam Hamza Ibrahim, disclosed this at a news conference in Kano on Monday.
He said about 27 per cent of the hate speeches recorded was ethnicity based while 59 per cent was gender based.
Ibrahim explained that 51 per cent of the captured number was religious based, while the remaining were based on farmer-herder, Biafra agitation, election-related, as well as access to resources.
According to him, CITAD is implementing countering hate speech project in Nigeria to track and counter hate speeches and online violence against women.
“With support from National Democratic Institute, we want to counter hate speech and online violence against women which is becoming too rampant on social media platforms,” he said.
Ibrahim noted that the hate speech and online violence on women was more rampant on Facebook with about 50 per cent while Twitter had about 46 per cent.
He said online newspaper pages had nine per cent and blogs had one per cent during the period.
Ibrahim, therefore, appealed to traditional institutions to enlighten and promote tolerance among citizens to reduce hate speech on social media platforms.
He also appealed to administrators of online groups to check contents before publishing on their platforms. (NAN)
