In light of what it determined as recent threats and dehumanising commentary against it, the Integrity Commission (IC) has taken the decision to block some accounts across its social media platforms.
"The Integrity Commission (IC) wishes advise that, recently, a handful of disturbing posts have been directed at the commission, from what appears be politically aligned social media accounts," said the commission in a notice that was posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
It said the posts in question "have contained threats, unwanted sexual content, hateful remarks and dehumanising commentary."
The IC added that, "The commission, acting pursuant to its published social media policy, and those of its powers that are prescribed by Section 6(3) of the Integrity Commission Act, has taken the decision to 'block' those accounts.
"As an example, one such social media user commented, 'Wen the election call, you book a flight we your family we go get you'," the IC claimed.
According to the commission, "This, among other ominous threats, has been made via social media, to IC representatives.
"The commission will, without hesitation, protect its social media accounts and its officers from commentary which, among other things, crosses the line which divides common decency and civility, from rank indecency and obscenity."
However, some users on X have taken issue with the IC's decision, arguing that as a Government entity, it should not be engaged in the blocking of comments which it is not in agreement with.
"Blocking should only be reserved for extreme cases of harassment, threats or violations of social media policies—not for silencing dissent," a user on X stated.
"Blocking people could send a message that the commission is unwilling to engage with dissent or scrutiny, which is counterproductive for an organisation tasked with promoting integrity and transparency," the user added.
Opined another user: "The threats towards the so called Integrity Commission is not the problem. The elephant in the room is... do we have an Integrity Commission? You ppl (people) should be worried about gaining the trust of the Jamaican ppl (people), because we don't trust anything (that) comes from that place."
But one female user on X said the comments she observed about the IC and its representatives would "drive fear" into her if she was an employee there.
"I don't know about anyone else, but threatening people's families and pushing violence because you don't like the reports from the Integrity Commission is where I draw the line.
"I may NOT be in agreement with every REPORT, but let the Integrity Commission do their job until the Government decides otherwise," she wrote.
The IC has been under the attack from bloggers aligned to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and, to a lesser extent, the Opposition People's National Party (PNP), for several adverse findings it has made relative to respective party officials.
