VP Jagdeo says Government has no plan to regulate free speech or clamp down on social media influencers

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo today said that updated Cybercrime legislation, which the Government will be tabling, will not regulate what people say online, nor will it clamp down on social media influencers or those with large social media following

At a press conference today, Mr. Jagdeo said his Government believes in free speech and the planned updated legislation will not infringe on free speech.

‘We believe in free media, we believe in people freely expressing their views on the internet, we are not for censorship on the internet, we will promote people’s rights to freely express themselves, but the United Nations has come up with model legislation about crime that is perpetuated in cyber space so the regulations will fit into the United Nations framework,’ Mr. Jagdeo said.

Mr. Jagdeo said even when persons are critical of the government, they are within their right and he does not support censoring those people. But he made it clear that persons do not have the right to break the law, and it will be those law breakers that the Government will go after.

“Its for only people who do things like extort people, or people who exploit women by taking photos and blackmailing them for all sorts of reasons, people who exploit children and all these things, these are important things for us, we are not going to allow that to happen in our country. But this is not to regulate what people say, we believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

The Vice President said social media commentators and influencers have nothing to worry about what they say online, once it falls within the context of free speech and freedom of expression.

However, the Attorney General has made it clear that the legislation will go after those persons who use social media to slander others with falsehoods.