Nigeria, May 6 -- In an age where social media often serves as judge, jury, and executioner, public perception can be swiftly weaponized, even in the absence of facts. This has recently played out in the unfortunate and unwarranted campaign against Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) over the arrest of social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM). Despite clear indications that the bank had no hand in the arrest, a wave of online outrage was directed at the financial institution, sparking a call for boycott campaign that frankly defies logic.

At the center of this storm lies a pressing societal concern: the lack of emotional restraint in public discourse, particularly in the digital age. Nigerians, underst...