What You Need To Know About Nigeria’s Social Media Bill – TheNigerialawyer

According to statistics, Nigeria currently ranks highest in
number of internet users with over 111.6 million internet users in
African.

This active use of the internet by Nigerians is in diverse areas
such as work-related activities, social media engagements, online
transactions, purchases and so on.

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, November 5, re-introduced a bill
that will regulate the use of social media in the country. The
bill, ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill
2019’ was one of the 11 bills read for the first time at the floor
of the house.

The sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Mohammed Sani Musa, said
the bill was aimed at curbing fake news on the internet but this
action has been greeted by controversial reactions.

Musa, who is representing Niger East Senatorial District, said
that his bill on social media was aimed at guiding the users and
not to gag media practitioners in Nigeria.

However, this is not the first time the government has mulled
the passing of a bill to regulate the use of social media.

In 2015, there was a sponsored anti-social media bill but, the
bill was kicked against by many Nigerians who believe it negates
citizens’ fundamental rights and would restrict freedom of
expression.

It should be recalled that on June 26, 2018, the Chairman of the
Nigerian Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Abdul Fatai
Buhari, announced that the Nigerian government lay before the
Senate a Bill set to regulate social media because many Nigerians
were misusing it.

With the re-introduction of this bill in an interview with
journalists, Musa said it was aimed at ensuring sanity on social
media.

He said individuals who post false information on the internet,
when found guilty would be asked to pay a fine of N150,000 or they
are sentenced to three months imprisonment.

The Senator added that any corporate organisation that refused
to block false information after the regulating agency had alerted
it would be asked to pay a fine ranging from N5m to N10m.

While social media is a place to connect with friends and
family, these platforms have become a critical part of political
mobilization in Nigeria and the world at large. It has also helped
to expose government’s wrong doings and mobilize mass action to
hold leaders accountable such as ‘Occupy Nigeria’, ‘Bring Back Our
Girls’, etc.

Different school of thoughts have raised their concerns as
regards the bill, while those against the bill argued that if the
law is passed, the law could mean an unwarranted policing of
citizens freedom of expression.

While others who are in support established that the law would
allow for censorship of libelous or defamatory material on social
media. The law will make it possible for persons inciting hate or
making hate speeches online to be liable to arrest and
prosecution.

Similarly, Nigeria’s minister of information Lai Mohammed
affirmed that no responsible government would want the activities
of social media that is capable of setting the country on fire.