A lot of Nigerians are talking about the social media bill. In case you didn't know, Nigerians
are big fans of social media… But the Nigerian government….not so much. And now they’re following
in the footsteps of country’s like Tanzania and Burkina Faso, to try and regulate Nigeria’s social
media space. There have been failed attempts to regulate the social media space in the past.
Protections from Internet Falsehoods and Manipulations and Other Related Matters Bill
was proposed. Its aim, according to the Senator who introduced it, is to curb the spread of false
information and fake news, which many politicians, including the Minister for Information,
have said threatens the stability of the country. The bill says people should not: ‘Transmit
false statements’ or statements that ‘might affect the country’s security, public health,
public safety or public finance, affect Nigeria’s relationship with other countries,
influence election outcomes or cause hatred towards a person or a group of people. Anyone
found guilty of these things could face a fine of 300,000 Naira, 3 years imprisonment, or both.
Companies face a fine of 10 million. The bill would also give the government the
power to turn off the internet. When it was first introduced it drew a lot of criticism,
with activists concerned the Bill was an attempt to clamp down on free speech.
And now the End Sars protests, which were largely driven by social media, have put the Bill back on
the top of the news agenda, with renewed calls for the Bill to pass, which has Nigerians very
concerned. Every time there’s has been either a protest or there have been active voices speaking
up against government, we have seen pushback by government, because governments by nature love
control. Some of the reasons why people do not want it, include things like vague statements,
which have been used in the past to either attack active citizens or members of the opposition,
or even people in civil society. Phrases like false statements, you cannot vest the power
to determine what is a false statement outside a court. Another criticism of the Bill is that
Nigeria already has laws that cover defamation, slander and libel, which activists say is enough
coverage for false statements. We already have an existing, very punitive Cybercrime Law from 2015,
that has been used by many people, including government officials and private actors to sue
people who they feel have provided disinformation online or things they consider hate speech,
so there are existing laws. It begs the question then why the desperation to now create a specific
law targeted at social media. If the problem is disinformation or fake news or dangerous speech
or hate speech, let that be the problem that we seek to solve, the problem is not the citizens,
the problem. is not social media, the problem is what we need to solve,
not to mute public opinion. As the fate of the Social Media Bill waits to be seen,
many Nigerian social media users are vowing to fight it.