ABSTRACT
The advent of social media has eased information production, dissemination, and reception. Despite its enormous contributions to transforming the communication landscape, social media has intensified the spread of hate speech. This chapter examines the role of Facebook activists (Ayaba Cho Lucas and Epanty Valentine Epanty), in hate speech propagation and its effects on the national unity of Cameroon. The framing and cultivation theories were considered. The study uses a mixed research approach – qualitative content analysis and survey. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse hate speech on Facebook, while the survey examined hate speech effects on the national unity of 330 Buea inhabitants, Southwest region of Cameroon. Findings reveal that activists use Facebook to propagate acts of prejudice, incite genocide and violence. Also, the use of words considered derogatory in Cameroon, like ‘terrorist’, ‘ambazonia terrorists’, ‘Anglo-fool’, and ‘black leg’, were repeatedly used. The survey results reveal that hate speech is the cause of major divides in Cameroon. For instance, 45.4% (150) respondents agreed that hate speech brings Northwest and Southwest divide, against 34.5% (114) who disagreed. It is recommended that activists guard against hate speech with assistance from government agencies and internet service providers. Also, social networks should delimit or prohibit the use of pejorative language in the context of Cameroon by establishing a filtering system to track and eliminate hate speech on social media.
