ABSTRACT
Freedom of speech is a fundamental right to voice one's opinion, beliefs and views unaccompanied by fear of reprisal, legal action or censorship. Hate speech is considered as an anomaly to freedom of speech, particularly when it incites violence or discrimination. This paper discusses hate speech, its detrimental effect on individuals and societal structure and hate speech regulation. Despite numerous legislations, the cases of hate speech is on the upswing resulting in hate crimes and this emphasizes the need to range over measures to combat hate speech and upon the need to work on the proper implementation of existing laws. The paper also highlights the distinction between protected and unprotected speech because it is the hate speech that needs to be regulated.
