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Trolls leave iol
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IOL News closes its comments section

Internet trolls, spewers of hate-speech and other odious online individuals have just been evicted from another home, as IOL news has closed its comments section with immediate effect.

In a post entitled ‘Dear Reader, We’re Closing Our Comments’, IOL News’s Managing Editor Adrian Ephraim, went to some lengths to explain what prompted Independent Media to take this “difficult but necessary decision”.

“The freedom of expression guaranteed by our Constitution was never meant to override the personal freedoms and human rights of our fellow citizens,” Ephraim wrote. “Let me be clear that commenting on an article is not a right, but a courtesy afforded to you by IOL as a reader.”

“If you are prone to being racist or sexist in your thinking, by all means express yourself on other platforms that may find such behaviour acceptable, but not on IOL,” he added.

The move come just a month after News24 closed its online comments section, which prompted a rather large outcry from some of its more vocal readers. We’re expecting more of the same over on Twitter shortly, since Ephraim has asked readers for their thoughts on the comments closure at iol.co.za using the hashtag #IOLComments.

Gird your loins. Something tells us you might be in for an eyeful on social media today.

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