Social Media, Hate Speech and the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: The Case of Some Selected Posts and Comments on Facebook by Cameroonians

Abstract

Since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in 2016, media professionals and ordinary people in Cameroon have been constantly producing hate speech via all forms of media, especially the social media platform called Facebook. This is believed to have far reaching consequences on the targeted individuals, groups and on national unity at large. This paper investigates how hate speech is represented in some posts and comments by Cameroonians on Facebook during Anglophone crisis. Data was gotten from some popular Facebook ‘groups’, ‘pages’ and the ‘personal walls’ of some Cameroonian activists. The paper reveals that hate speech for the most part on Facebook during the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon is based on ethno-political groupings, represented through the use of inclusive/non-inclusive pronouns, and words and expressions that excite hatred such as terrorists, Ambafools/Ambafrogs; Anglofou/Anglofools; Graffi; Cam no go; Bamileke Marquissard; La Republic/LRC; Francofools; and CPDM monsters. These words and expressions are further intensified through the use of deictic expressions and several demeaning adjectives, metaphors and similes. To solve this problem, the paper proposes some alternative words and expressions that can be used by Cameroonians both online and offline to reduce the rate of hate speech in Cameroon. The paper firmly holds that if work is done for the social and cultural transformation of all the people of Cameroon, then the usage of hate speech in Cameroon during and after the Anglophone crisis will be reduced.