‘Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative has described the insistence of the Nigerian government on regulating social media a feeling of insecurity by the government.
Sesan in an exclusive interview with BONews Service explained that the main reason the Nigerian government has been persistent with attempts to regulate the social media is because “insecure governments who are unable to debate constructively behave like bullies, and end up threatening any voice of dissent with every form of fear-inducing act they can come up with.”
Sesan stressed that the Federal Government has been using different regulators to limit freedom of expression and wants to replicate same with social media.
“The Nigerian government has always had an agenda of control — we’re yet to be weaned from our military dictatorship addictions.
“When this current government was in opposition, it suffered the same fate in the hands of the Dasuki-led security apparatus so it has inherited and built on this clampdown agenda.
“The Federal Government has been able to use regulators like the Nigerian Communications Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Broadcasting Commission and others to limit the freedom of expression in spaces those regulators control but given that social media isn’t under anyone’s control, they continue to try to do the impossible,” he added.
Speaking on the implication of the anti-social media bill on fundamental human rights if it should be legislated, ‘Gbenga Sesan quoted the provisions of the bill, highlighting how the bill can infringes on fundamental human rights.
He explained that, “the bill suggests that government and its agents will decide what statement is false based on disagreement with official figures and that will be an opportunity to clamp down on dissenting voices, just as has already been done multiple times with the Cybercrime Act.
“The bill also suggests that punishments for expressions that government deems to be capable of “diminishing public confidence in the discharge of its duties” range from N300,000 to N10,000,000 or 3 years’ imprisonment or both, and that will be abused.
“You also can’t take your matter to court unless you have applied to the law enforcement department (police) which brings the question of a fair trial since the same agency becomes enforcer and judge. We strongly believe no law should preclude anyone from seeking justice in a court of law.
“The bill also suggests that law enforcement can force intermediaries to disable internet access to its users through a “disabling regulation”; and can force media houses and ISPs to transmit statements or pieces of information or content to all of its users.”
The Paradigm Initiative ED noted that, though the Federal Government is hiding behind fighting fake news and hate speech to regulate the social media, much needed to be done to curtail fake news in Nigeria.
“As we have seen across the world over the past few years, regulation that focuses on controlling what citizens can(not) say doesn’t stop dis/misinformation or dangerous speech.
“Some of problems with the regulation approach in African countries are vagueness (the ambiguity in regulations that allow them to be used against the innocent) and context (a history of clampdown that will only build on ‘fighting false information’ as an excuse,” he added.
Sesan however recommended that fighting fake news require “educating everyone to allow them spot and not share false information; proactive disclosure by governments to avoid gaps that can be exploited by merchants of false information;
“Promotion of community norms that various communities of practice — and people groups — abide by in order to discourage false or dangerous information sharing,” he buttressed.