The renewed call for the regulation of the social media space by the federal government and some state governors against the backdrop of the recent #EndSARS protest, as expected, has been generating a fresh round of controversy, Gabriel Atumeyi writes.
October to remember
The month of October was without doubt one of upheaval in Nigeria as youths across the nation rose to demand an end to SARS, the Special Anti-robbery Squad, a notorious police unit, known for extra-judicial killings.
Social media and mobile technology became the tool and vehicle that enabled this call for an end to police brutality, as young Nigerians tweeted and retweeted hashtags and responded by attending rallies and demonstrations.
But one month after, voices from official sources are calling for social media regulation and censorship, the result of the fallout from the once peaceful protest which resulted in the death of 22 police officers, 50 civilians and the destruction of public and private properties.
According to the government, the protest and much of its incendiary outcome was ignited by fake news.
The case against social media
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, last week, while calling for regulation of social media, said the nation was sitting on a keg of gun powder because of fake news. He warned that the next war that will be fought in the country and across the globe may be fought through social media.
The minister was making reference to the #EndSARS protest, saying that it was fought on social media, while extolling China as a model that the nation should copy in a bid to tackling this perceived menace.
Similarly, Northern governors, in a stakeholders meeting which took place on Monday in Kaduna, also called for major control mechanism and censorship of the social media practice in Nigeria to curb fake news which, according to them, is the result of unregulated social media and is largely responsible for the violence that greeted the #EndSARS protest.
But the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, typically have condemned the move, saying it was an attempt to strangulate the people’s voices in order to resist accountability and fairness.
In like vein, Civil Society Organisations like the Socio – Economic Rights And Accountability Project, SERAP, have threatened to sue the National Assembly and northern governors if such a bill is passed.
Old game, new players
This is not the first time social media regulation has been proposed.
Last year, a bill to criminalise the use of social media for peddling false and malicious information was sponsored by Niger State senator, Mohammed Sani Musa.
The bill entitled Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, 2019, did not get the stamp of law as it was heavily resisted by a cross section of Nigerians.
Many opponents of the call to regulate social media contend that it violates free speech, online expression in particular, and is seen as a ploy to stifle opposition voices. They accuse the ruling APC of attempting to clampdown on the same social media on whose power and influence they rose to power in 2015. Lai Mohammed has even accused of being a propagandist who at the height of the 2015 election, as spokesperson of his party, was the chief peddler of fake news as a political weapon against the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Many believe that poor governance is a greater threat to national security than fake news. They argue that many times, social media has been a vital and useful source of genuine information than official sources. Some go further to assert that social media should be used by a responsible government to feel the pulse of the people before enacting public policies and posit that instead of censoring social media in order to counter fake news, the government should enhance its capacity to provide verifiable information and sources as a better alternative in a democratic society that enhances media freedom, freedom of information and expression.
Another argument is that there are other laws that regulate aspects of social media, such as the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 and that should be enough.
Political undertones
But many in the ruling party see the recent #EndSARS protest as a tool in the hands of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to undermine the present administration.
This assertion, they argue, was premised on the fact that despite the lack of leadership of the protests, it continued to run despite government acceding to the five points demands of the protesters.
By regulating social media, Nigeria would be joining a growing list of African countries including Tanzania and Uganda.
Why social media regulation?
Speaking to 365Daily, former minister of Education under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Chinwe Obaji, said regulating social media seems plausible in light of the many false information contents that find their way to the social media to be shared indiscriminately by unsuspecting individuals.
According to her, moral and intellectual decadence and systematic failure are contributors to the toxic nature of social media.
She said, “When government comes out with either a policy or regulation or what they want to do. We have to engage it. We have not even read the ingredients to know what it does contain, what do they intend to achieve. You know, how do they want to do it, because you cannot comment on what you do not know the details of. Let us know the details. If the government wants to regulate the social media, it depends on what they mean by regulation. Because when you look at the word regulation, it means a lot. If they come up with their template, then we can discuss that template.
“Government is saying they want to regulate social media but how are they going about it. I think what journalists should be asking about, is what is your prompting? What do you hope to achieve? Why do you hope to achieve it?
“There is a lot of fake news going round all over the place, it does not even do good to the image of the country. We should all realise that we are Nigerians and we do not have any other country and every country has its own high and low points, but in this country, every little thing we escalate it, we add all kinds of stories, and before you know it, people are sharing it all over the place.
“Such false social media contents in a multi ethnic and religious society like our own has the capacity to ignite an uncontrollable situation and government has a duty to safeguard lives and properties, if fake news from social media becomes a threat to lives and properties, government has a duty to regulate it.”
Comrade Muyiwa Olende, executive director of Citizens Advocacy Against Corruption And Social Vices Initiative, CAACASVI said it unadvisable and near impossible for the government to regulate social media.
He said, “But it is also significant that as a civil society organisation for us to lend our voice and to also align with the fact that it will be counterproductive to regulate social media just for the fact that some element within the social media space tend to abuse the use.
“First and foremost, the question is how do they intend to regulate the social media that it will not impede on the right and privileges of the legitimate users whose content do not represent fake news.
“How do they intend to regulate the social media in such a way that free flow of information will not be disrupted? These and many more are the question in the minds of citizens.
“It is a known fact that there are some elements that for selfish reasons deploy the social media as a tool for damages and division among the citizenry thereby using fakes news and content to cause tension within different interest groups and ethnic affiliation.”
While the government is yet to roll out any concrete policy document on what it intends to do, political observers believe that any attempt to regulate the social media would lead to a backlash against a government still reeling from the #EndSARS crisis as witnessed in the initial attempt.