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SERAP accuses Nigerian govt of social media clampdown under pretext of Twitter ban

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The Socio – Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP) has alerted Nigerians about an imminent clampdown and regulation of social media by the Federal Government.

According to the SERAP, the decision to suspend the operations of Twitter was a preclude to an extreme regulation of social media in the country’s cyberspace.

The organisation made this assertion via a tweet on Saturday, saying “Mr Lai Mohammed and the Buhari administration are using the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria as a pretext to regulate social media through the backdoor.

“This administration is flagrantly violating our rights.

“It will take all of us to fight back against the repression.”

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Federal Government mandated that Over the Top (OTT) and social media platforms operating in the country must register and obtain license to operate is in conformity with global trend.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this on Friday when he featured on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme “Good Morning Nigeria.”

OTT media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the internet.

Read also: SERAP reports Nigerian govt to Commonwealth over ban on Twitter, urges sanctions

The minister said if the platforms were registered and issued with licenses, their operations would be regulated within the terms of their registrations.

He said it was unfortunate that most of the OTT and social media had no offices in Nigeria where they operated and made billions of dollars without paying any tax.

He said many countries had now woken up to the reality and had commenced regulating the platforms and Nigeria would not be an exception.

“Singapore regulates the social media, Australia has done so, even EU that does not have particular laws on social media has made recommendations in a white paper.

“The EU says that social media platforms that publish content that are harmful to the security of a nation or make such impressionable move, such content should be removed,’’ he said.

By Mayowa Oladeji…

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