If the PNM wins the upcoming general election, Acting Prime Minister Stuart Young has promised to introduce laws to regulate social media. Young said this while speaking at the PNM’s National Women’s League’s observance of International Women’s Day yesterday at Signature Hall in Chaguanas.
Although Young pledged to implement more severe sanctions for domestic abuse, he attacked social media.
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He stated, “To the young women in our society today, one of the things I also undertake that we are going to do in the next chapter when the country gives us the mandate to continue to lead–for the PNM to form the next Government until 2030–what that Government is going to do is reform the laws and legislation concerning social media, because you see, while social media is a good platform, it has also become, unfortunately, a tool for cowards to attack our women, our young girls and our society. I am not going to stand by idly once you give me the mandate to lead this country and allow that to remain untouched in the laws of T&T.”
Young has previously attacked social media. In his capacity as National Security Minister, Young supported then-Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith’s claim that the police utilize surveillance technologies to monitor and analyze social media activity during a Standing Finance Committee hearing in the House of Representatives in October 2019. Speaking at a regional cybersecurity workshop later that month, he declared social media to be the “single largest threat we now have to democracy.”
In T&T, there have been several cases before the court concerning defamatory statements made on social media. Financial sextortion has also become an increasing concern in the country.
Young criticized the “irresponsible use of social media.” Additionally, he attacked Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the leader of the opposition, saying, “You will judge who is the party that really appreciates our women, who is the party that lifted our women into their rightful positions of leadership from the presidency right down to a whole-of-society, which is the party that respects our women and listens carefully and attentively to our women as opposed to those in positions of leadership who denigrate, attack and dispose of women as they have shown over the last 15 years.”
Dr. Gabrielle Hosein, a lecturer at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, responded to the news by saying, “Minister Young has been raising this as an issue for some years, but we need details before we can assess what’s planned. The population is skeptical as the minister has been in government since 2015, so anyone would ask; why tackle these now and not all that time? But we look forward to consultation and the right promises made and kept.”
Hosein went on to say that it is encouraging that the minister views women and girls as a group whose needs and rights are important. She went on to say, “That signals a real opportunity for us to lobby for what women really want and need.”
Additionally, the Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s general manager, Sabrina Mowlah-Baksh, praised the announcement, adding, “The platform is also being used as a means for digital disinformation and even extortion. Regulatory procedures, especially around consent, must be introduced to address some of these issues. Then there are also issues around defamation and consequences for disinformation. Policies that promote responsible behavior and which penalize harmful behavior on this platform are much needed.”
