DefinePK

Abstract

This study explores the perceptions and experiences of young undergraduate students about hate speech and the laws regulating such an act in society. With the ever-growing influence of access to digital technology, social media platforms and desire to freely express yourself; hate speech has become common in Pakistani society especially educational institutes. Youth is freely expressing their ideas, thoughts, and feelings on educational, social, economic, political, and religious issues without realizing the impact of their words and the sentiments of the people. Therefore, a qualitative case study was undertaken to explore the perspectives of Cyber-security and Law undergraduate students about hate speech. Data was collected using purposive sampling from 48 undergraduate participants. Focus group interviews had been conducted to record the views of respondents and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study suggest that the Cyber security students associated hate-speech with digital media while Law students related it to their day-to-day discourse and experiences. Similarly, Law students had better knowledge about the offenses and judicial laws while very few participants from the other discipline had knowledge about the laws regulating hate speech in society. However, the experiences of the respondents reflected that most of them have faced hate-speech on-campus or society. The results are insightful for educationists and policy makers to provide awareness to students about hate-speech and laws, especially those enrolled in information technology related fields during their early educational life.