Public Defender: Politicians must agree that a certain kind of hate speech is unacceptable

Politicians must agree with regard to the use of hate speech, especially during the pre-election period, - Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria stated at the plenary session of the Parliament when answering a question about fake news.

According to Nino Lomjaria, dissemination of misinformation is very damaging for the institutions and individuals.

"I have experienced and recently felt a very aggressive disinformation campaign against the Public Defender, not only on the social network, but also on TV channels. It is very difficult to engage and devote all your time to dispelling misinformation directed against your institution, especially when you do not use means such as funding for advertising or sponsoring dissemination of information about the Public Defender, etc. So, of course, dissemination of misinformation is very damaging for the institutions and individuals.

My recommendation would be, and this is written in our report, that politicians must agree on the use of hate speech, especially in the pre-election period, if possible. I understand that no one can forbid the dissemination of certain information, including unethical evaluations, etc. But the only solution is to reach an agreement between all the political parties that a certain kind of hate speech is unacceptable,” Lomjaria said.