Osinbajo kicks against govt’s regulation of social media

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday kicked against the regulation of social media by government, saying it is not necessarily the way to go.

Osinbajo, who spoke at an inter-faith tolerance dialogue Organised by the United Arab Emirate in Abuja, however cautioned Nigerians against the abuse of social media, noting that it can precipitate war and violent conflict, if used to misinform.

The Vice President specifically warned against using social media platforms to promote religious disinformation, which he said could easily lead to a breakdown of law and order.

Read also: SUPPLEMENTARY POLL: Intimidation won’t save you this time, PDP chieftain tells Orji Kalu

Calling on religious leaders to go beyond talking about tolerance to making sacrifices that were required, Osinbajo said: “As religious leaders and media personalities, also as people of faith in general, we share a common calling to apprehend the truth. We absolutely need to be careful in our use of social media and if we do not want to promote the kind of conflict that can go completely out of hand, we must be sure that we are policing and regulating ourselves, especially, with social media.

“I don’t think that government regulation is necessarily the way to go, but I believe that we as persons of faith and we, as leaders, and those of us who use the social media actively owe a responsibility to our society and to everyone else, to ensure that we don’t allow it to become an instrument of conflict and instrument of war.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now