WHEN GOVERNMENT USES AN OVERBROAD COMPUTER MISUSE STATUTE TO CENSOR SOCIAL MEDIA

"Malicious communications

14.

Where a person uses a computer to send a message, letter, electronic communication or article of any description that

(a)

is indecent or obscene;

(b)

is or constitutes a threat; or

(c)

is menacing in character,

and he intends to cause or is reckless as to whether he causes annoyance, inconvenience, distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person to whom he intends it or its contents to be communicated, he is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $10 000 or to imprisonment for a term of 12 months or to both."

What you are reading above is taken verbatim from the Computer Misuse Act of 2023,  a new statute enacted in Barbados, ostensibly to control child pornography. Unfortunately, it has had the effect of placing social media in the country under complete government control meaning censorship in a nation that is supposed to have Freedom of the Press, handed down from English Common Law.

The human rights situation in Barbados is severely affected by the fact that the fine, potentially levied upon anyone who chooses to detail their political opposition to the sitting government on social media, risks a fine that is the equivalent of five thousand US Dollars, an amount that most Bajans simply cannot afford to pay, exposing them to even more Draconian measures designed to stifle political dissent and discussion. This law, ostensibly designed to prevent unauthorized computer intrusion and child pornography, censors any inhibits any public dialogue on the issues, and controls Freedom of Speech.   

So long as such a broad-based law exists in Barbados, no meaningful Opposition party or movement can ever be effective or even operate on a level where it can compete in the political arena, thus insuring continued de facto one-party rule for the indefinite future. That is how democracy dies.