Prime Minister Andrew Holness speaking on Friday during a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Trelawny South meeting
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Andrew Holness, has cautioned his supporters about the growing influence of misinformation on social media, warning that some “badmind” individuals are using the platforms to spread lies, propaganda, and negativity.
Speaking at a recent JLP meeting in Trelawny South, Holness reflected on how media consumption has changed over time. He noted that in the past, traditional media such as television and newspapers had editors who could be held accountable for inaccuracies. But now, he said systems of checks and balances are missing on social media.
“Now you have something called social media. Granted, the social media mean that it was for fun—to connect you with your friends and have fun—but somehow you have some badmind people who turn it into anti-social media. They use it to tell lie, spread propaganda, and bring down people,” Holness told his supporters.
“There are a lot of unsuspecting people who, anything them see, them believe, anything them read, them believe. And a lot of people now deh pon TikTok—how much people deh pon TikTok a watch live? How much people deh pon YouTube? Absolutely nothing wrong with that; get your information. But you have to know that not everything them tell you is true. You can be misled.
“And that is why you notice the labour party is not taking any chances. We call our workers together and we are having our meetings right across Jamaica because you cannot rely on the traditional media or the social media to carry your side of the story. You cannot rely on them either to carry the facts. We, as the political organisation that represent you, we have to bring the facts to you,” he continued.
Holness said he has given strict instructions to party members not to engage in what he described as “toxicity” on social media.
“I have told my political party that we must not add to the toxicity. When something toxic is poisonous, we must not add to the poison, the lies, the falsehoods. So all of my members have strict instructions not to try and trick the Jamaican people with lies. The reason why we take this view is that we have too many achievements to go and manufacture lies. We don’t have to come to you and give you no propaganda. We have achieved so much as a government—no other government in the history of Jamaica can go to an election and face the people with achievement. No other government. So we must not waste time with the lie,” the prime minister said.
Hinting that the group he was referring to was the Opposition’s People’s National Party, Holness said: “All our ministers, all our MPs (Members of Parliament), that is the task they have—to counter the lies with truth. The only way to fight darkness is with light, and the Jamaica Labour Party will shine the light on the darkness of the PNP. I see you as little candles that must be lit with the right information for you to go back into your communities and shine the light so the people can see. We must not hide our achievements under any bushel. We must be proud of what we achieved.”
Holness added that he has instructed the JLP communication team to compile a list of the party’s achievements, which he said amounts to some 200 accomplishments.