DOWNLOAD : What The Protection From Internet Falsehoods And Manipulation Bill, 2019 Says

It is no longer a news that a bill is pending before the
National Assembly known as the PROTECTION FROM INTERNET
FALSEHOODS AND MANIPULATION AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS BILL,
2019. The bill is sponsored by Senator Mohammed Sani
Musa (A senator representing Niger state). The bill has 36 clauses
(sections) divided into 5 parts.

The bill is explained to prevent falsehoods and manipulations in
internet transmissions and correspondences in Nigeria. To suppress
falsehood and manipulations and counter the effects of such
communications and transmissions and to sanction offenders with a
view to encouraging and enhancing transparency by social media
platforms using the internet correspondences.

This bill shall be reviewed based on the 5 parts to make the
review easier and to also facilitate comprehension.

PART ONE

This part deals with the aims and objectives of the bill. The
bill is aimed at preventing transmission of false
statements/declaration of facts in Nigeria and enable measures to
be taken to counter the effects of such transmission. To suppress
the financing, promotion and other support of online locations that
repeatedly transmit false statements/ declaration of facts. To
enable measures to be taken to detect, control and safeguard
against uncoordinated inauthentic behaviour and other misuses of
online accounts and bots. To enable measures to be taken to enhance
disclosure of information concerning paid content direct towards a
political end to sanction offenders

PART TWO

This part prohibits the transmission of false declarations of
fact. Clause 3 of the Bill provides that a person must not do any
deliberate act by within or outside Nigeria to transmit certain
statement of facts in Nigeria knowing or having reason to know that
such statement is a false statements of fact and transmission of
the statement is likely to:

• be prejudicial to the country’s security, public health, public
  safety, public tranquillity or finances
• prejudice to Nigeria’s relations with other countries
• influence the outcome of an election or referendum
• incite feelings of enmity, hatred towards a person, or ill will
  between a group of persons; or
• diminish public confidence in the performance or exercise of
  any duty, function or power by the government.

The word declaration is used throughout the
bill to refer to statements, and is defined to mean “any word,
number, image, sound, symbol or other representation or combination
of any of these.” A declaration of fact is a
declaration, which a reasonable person seeing, hearing or otherwise
perceiving would consider it to be fact, while a declaration is
considered false if it is false or misleading,
wholly or in part, on its own or in the context in which it
appears.

Clause 4 provides criminalizes making or altering of bots for
transmission or enabling another’s transmission of false statements
of fact while clause 5 criminalizes Soliciting, receiving or
agreeing to receive any financial or material benefit as inducement
or reward to provide services for transmission of false declaration
of fact.

However, the Bill exempts acts for the purpose of or incidental
to the provision of an internet intermediary service, a tele
transmission service, a service providing public internet access;
or a computing resource service ( service that provides the use of
any computer hardware or software to enhance the processing
capability or storage capacity of a computer.)

PART THREE

This part makes regulations dealing with transmission of false
declaration of fact. It makes Provision for a law enforcement
department (defined in clause 35 of the Bill as the Police) to
issue what is referred to as a “Part 3 Regulation.” Such regulation
could either be a “correction regulation” or a “stop transmission
regulation”. See clauses 7 and 8 thereof

A correction regulation is one issued to a person who has
transmitted a declaration to issue a correction notice stating that
a declaration made by them is false or to specify where the stated
fact may be found. The person may also be required to publish the
correction in a newspaper or printed publication.

A stop transmission regulation, just like the name implies,
requires a person who transmitted a false declaration of fact to
stop transmitting the subject by a specified time, to transmit a
correction notice or publish such correction in the newspaper or
other printed publication.

A person transmitting a false decoration may be issued any of
these two regulations whether or not they knew or had reason to
believe the statement was false. Such person is also to bear any
costs associated with compliance with such regulation e.g.
newspaper publication.

Section 11 of the bill provides that non-compliance with a Part
3 Regulation attracts a fine not exceeding N 200,000 or 12 months
imprisonment or both for individuals but for others, a fine not
exceeding N 5million

That the person was acting under any law, contract or rule of
professional conduct is not a defence to a criminal charge for
non-compliance with a correction or stop transmission order. Also,
that the person has applied to the court to vary or cancel a
regulation is not a defence to a criminal charge

The Police may issue an access blocking order directing the
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to order an internet
service provider(ISP) to disable access by end-users in Nigeria to
an online location where a false declaration is being transmitted.
This applies to cases where there has been failure by a person to
comply with a regulation to correct or stop the transmission. See
section 12 thereof

By section 13 of the Bill, an appeal to the High Court against
the order may be made, but only after the applicant has applied to
the Police for a variation or cancellation and said request was
refused.

ISPs that fail to comply can face criminal charges and are
subject to a fine of up to N10million

PART 4 –

This part makes regulations for internet intermediaries and
providers of mass media services. Clause 35 defines Internet
intermediary service as any person who provides services that allow
end users access materials originating from third parties on or via
the internet; translates such materials to end users on/through the
internet; or displays to end-users, an index of search results
which links to content hosted or stored at another location. They
include social network services, search engines services, content
aggregation services, internet-based messaging services; and
video-sharing services.

Part 4 makes provision for any law enforcement agency (not
restricted to Police) who feels that it is in public interest, to
issue the following regulations to internet intermediaries, whose
platform has been used to spread false statements. They include a
targeted correction regulation i.e. a correction notice issued
through their service to all end-users who accessed the particular
statement or subject material via their service, a disabling
regulation, which requires that the internet intermediary disables
end-users’ access to the content, and, a general correction
regulation directed to a prescribed internet intermediary to
transmit a correction notice via its intermediary internet
service.

Section 22 of the bill prescribes Penalty for non-compliance for
individuals – Fine not exceeding N 300,000 or 12 months
imprisonment or both and for others – Fine not exceeding N
5million

Access blocking order can also be issued for internet
intermediaries that fail to comply with issued regulations. See
section 23 thereof. This involves the law enforcement agency
directing NCC to order an ISP to disable access to the online
location where the statement was published. The provider can incur
fines between N 1million and N 10million for failure to comply. An
aggrieved party may apply to the High Court for redress, but only
after a request for variation or cancellation of the order to the
law enforcement agency has been first made.

PART 5 –

Under this part, it is provided that Online locations where
three or more different false statements have been transmitted, may
be declared as a “declared online location” by the law enforcement
agency (Police). See clause 27 thereof. This will require that the
owner or operator of such online location informs its end-users
that its platform is the subject of such declaration.

Penalty for non-compliance attracts a fine not exceeding N
500,000 or 3 months imprisonment or both for individuals and for
others – Fine not exceeding N 5million

Access to the declared online location may also be blocked or
disabled.

Restrictions are also placed on transmitting paid content or
digital advertising on such platforms.

The Police may make regulations necessary for implementing this
law.

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