Amnesty International in Nigeria has warned that any attempt by the Nigerian government to regulate use of social media is an open attack on freedom of expression.
“The social media regulation law keenly pushed by Nigerian politicians is set to be subject to vague and broad interpretations and will impose incredibly harsh punishments simply for criticising the authorities,” stated Amnesty International Nigeria in a statement.
The warning came after Femi Gbajamiala, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinuubu, said on Friday that “social media is a menace” that must be regulated.
Gbajabiamila spoke at Eko Hotels Lagos where he represented President Tinubu at the public presentation of a book titled “Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole” authored by the former Governor of Lagos State and former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola.
In his preamble before reading the message of the President, Gbajabiamila said: “Perhaps, and I believe many of you here, unless of course you don’t live in this geographical space… this is the topic for which I am absolutely very much interested – the menace of social media. Although it has the potential to reach millions all around the world, but (the social media) poses great danger, not just to the society, but even unintended consequences to the individual who is at the receiving end, including security of life.
“The question that I normally ask is,‘who do you hold responsible;the purveyor of the fake news, or the person who reads it?
Gbajabiamila said as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he attempted to make a law that will regulate the social media “but we were resisted very vigorously by the Civil Society. I think the chickens have finally come home to roost. And I believe we are all on the same page now.The social media is a menace, and it must be regulated.”
Amnesty International, in the statement on Saturday, noted that the social media ‘regulation’ would pose a threat to critical opinion, satire, public dialogue and political commentary.
It added that the regulation could be “easily abused” to punish critics of government policies and actions, saying that the government can arbitrarily shut down the internet and limit access to social media.
“Nigeria’s social media regulation? Social media users will be punished for freely expressing their opinions. The government can arbitrarily shut down the internet and limit access to social media. Criticising government will be punishable with penalties of up to three years in prison.” it added.
Nigeria’s government introduced the “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019,” also known as the Social Media Bill, to the Senate for debate in November 2019.
The bill sought to criminalise the use of social media to peddle false or malicious information. It would have given the authorities arbitrary powers to shut down parts of the Internet and limit access to social media.
In June 2021, the Government of Nigeria suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the social networking service Twitter for close to six months until January 2022.