Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali on Friday confirmed his Government’s hiring of prominent Canadian Attorney, Selwyn Pieters to go after persons on social media, who the President has accused of spreading lies, misinformation and attacking the character Government and other officials.

In December, 2025, Mr. Pieters, who was born in Guyana and has a thriving Canadian law practice, filed Court action in the Canadian Courts against the Meta Company and New York-based, Guyanese activist Melissa “Melly Mel” Atwell over statements she allegedly made on social media about the President’s mother.

At a press conference on Friday, President Ali told reporters it was necessary to hire Pieters.

“I believe this guy has a special skill set that is necessary to combat the misinformation, the disinformation, and the lies that people are peddling on social media”, President Ali said.

Attorney Pieters has been accused of writing Meta Company, which owns Facebook and other social media websites, about the content of social media pages linked to the Opposition Leader of Guyana and other persons critical of the Government and Government officials.

The Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, has accused the Attorney of being responsible for the removal of two Facebook pages linked to the main parliamentary Opposition party and the Opposition Leader’s office.

In a video statement in October, Mr. Pieters denied any involvement in the removal of one of the social media pages linked to the Opposition Leader of Guyana.

“Any assertion by Mr. Mohamed that I caused, requested, or was otherwise responsible for the deactivation of that page is false. No evidence has been produced to support such a claim and I challenge Mr. Mohamed to make clear any evidence upon which he relies to support his false assertion”, Attorney Pieters said.

On Friday, the President defended the Government’s hiring of the Attorney to address what he considers to be misinformation and lies on social media.

“So you want me to sit back and allow people to assassinate the character of myself and senior officials”, Ali questioned.

As an example, the President pointed to a recent social media post by a sister of the Opposition Leader against two senior female Attorneys from the Attorney General’s Chambers who were involved in a Court matter that involves the Leader of the Opposition.

“I have not seen a single headline from the media about the behavior, the post attacking those two young lawyers. Where are all the Rights Organisations? Where are all the Women Activists, but we are seeing that activism is not only for persons who serve. What wrong have they done to be attacked in the manner in which they were attacked in”, the President questioned.

On Friday evening, Attorney General Anil Nandlall also criticised the social media post made by the sister of the Opposition Leader and threatened legal action.

While making it clear that he will not have a debate on the Government’s decision to hire an overseas-based Attorney to examine social media issues, the President noted that the law and international systems provide for the issues to be addressed.

“I don’t even examine what happens, but I have the trust of someone to examine those things, and to take the appropriate steps. And there is nothing wrong with that at all”, the President said.

Related posts:

Attorney General seeks partnership with parents, teachers and legal fraternity in plans to regulate use of social media by children AG Nandlall to introduce Cybercrime regulations to cover social media GDF debunks social media post about security situation at border location; Warns social media commentators Nandlall complains to US Security officials about persons in the US using social media to “threaten peace and stability” in Guyana