Understanding Hate Speech
The term “hate speech” has become part of the everyday vocabulary, but does it exist in South African law? Is it prohibited? Is it a crime? What are the penalties? What is hate speech legally? Hate speech is one type of expression that is explicitly excluded from constitutional protection – i.e., it judgement. It ruled that hate speech is expression (wider than just speech, and including writing and/or conduct) that “travels beyond mere offensive expression and can be understood as‘extreme detestation and vilification which risks provoking discriminatory activities against that group’”. Importantly, the Constitutional Court pointed out “that the expression of unpopular or even offensive beliefs does not constitute hate speech”.
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