Police Propose Fake News Prohibition Act

The Nigeria police force has proposed a fake news prohibition
act in the country.

The police made the proposal on Wednesday during a fake news
conference organised by the BBC world service in Abuja.

But some experts at the programme including Wole Soyinka, Nobel
Laureate, argued that rather than introduce a new law to fight fake
news, existing ones should be implemented.

Decrying the spate of fake news in Nigeria, Abayomi Shogunle,
head, public complaint rapid response unit at the force
headquarters, said such laws will also curb circulation of fake
news on social media.

“Should the freedom of expression cover fake news, my answer is
know. Do we need a legislation to fight fake news? My answer is
yes,” he said.

“And I believe Nigeria, we are still not doing enough to fight
fake news. There should be fake news prohibition act; not just
cyber crime act. There should be fake news prohibition act.”

Soyinka, however, said Nigeria has “sufficient legislation to
check fake news”.

“So it is left for the law enforcement agencies to take these a
little more seriously. Beyond the physical harm, fake news also
disrupts the mentality of a vulnerable generation,” he said.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said to curb fake news, especially
on the social media, there should be more collaboration between
countries.

“The traditional media obviously operate in a more responsible
manner and the simple reason it is so is because there are
consequences and it is much easier to hold them to account to help
regulate social media,” he said.

“(But) there is an opportunity for more collaboration; in other
words, shouldn’t we be looking at some kind of conventions and
agreements between nations.”

Festus Okoye, a national commissioner at the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), acknowledged that fake news
constitutes a “serious” challenge to the forthcoming elections.

He suggested a way out of the problem: “I think we should try to
understand the dynamics of social media and try to compete. If a
fake story is out, you put out the rebuttal and let both compete.
In terms of the traditonal media, I believe we should have more
specialisation, better training.”