Aside Politics, Gbajabiamila Not Wrong on Social Media Regulation

Save for postponing the evil day, the need to regulate the social media is now a matter of urgent national importance, writes Shola Oyeyipo

Despite the spontaneous attacks on him, the call by the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, for regulation of the Nigerian social media is not just a step in the right direction, but also a matter of urgent national importance.

A report in February 2023 by Simon Kemp, a global authority on internet usage, estimated that there were no fewer than 193.9 million cellular mobile connections in Nigeria. This is about 87.7 per cent of the country’s total population.

There were also 31.60 million social media users as of January 2023, also equating 14.3 per cent of the total population. While these come with its sweet side, the bitter taste of unsavory social media use in the country could have a much longer lasting negative side effect, unchecked.

While the social media offers the convenience of staying connected with family and friends the world over, real-time access to information and research, ease of banking, facilitating distance learning, remote high-paying job opportunities, and many more, authorities and government across the globe are not just worried about the innovation, but the way some people are deploying it, either out of ignorance or sheer mischief.

For instance, whereas people are called ‘friends’ on social media (Facebook especially), they may be total strangers in actual sense. And these curious friends have often turned out to be vendors of fake and unreliable news shared by their unknown ‘friends’ on both ends.

Information shared could reach millions of Nigerians in minutes and billions of onlookers across the globe within hours. While quite a number of these are total falsehood or unverified facts, fear is that some of this information are capable of sparking unrest and anarchy, if left without regulations. Such materials usually put the society in bad light on the global stage.

Though the former Speaker, House of Representatives and now the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Gbajabiamila, has been furiously criticised for stating recently at a book launch of former Minister for Works, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), that the “Social media has become a societal menace and must be regulated,” those who could see through his lenses would probably understand the weight of his position.

Gbajabiamila, who represented President Tinubu at the launch of the book titled: ‘Nigerian Public Discourse — The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole’, explained that while his principal was obligated to engage in evidence-based discussions with the people.

But, unfortunately, he argued that, “many people do not understand that once the send button is hit, there is a potential to reach millions of people around the world, which is capable of causing a great danger not just in the society but even unintended consequences to the individuals that are receiving information which may include security of life.”

There is no doubt that times are presently very hard for Nigerians. The citizenry is unhappily bearing the brunt of the recklessness of the immediate past administration of Muammadu Buhari, and one avenue that has come handy for the people to vent their frustration has been the various social media platforms.

But this does not take away the fact that unmitigated social media usage could only inflict more damage on the already battered image of the country among the comity of nations. Gbajabiamila’s utterance is a statement of fact that must not be dismissed on the altar of sentiments by social media users.

Gbajabiamila is not alone in the quest for social media regulation. Even the Buhari administrtaion, and the then Minister of Information,  Alhaji Lai Mohammed, toyed with the idea of regulating the social media in Nigeria. In fact, X formally Twitter, was banned in 2021.

In an article by Jamie Susskind, the author of The Digital Republic: on Freedom and Democracy in the 21st Century, titled: “We Can Regulate Social Media Without Censorship. Here’s How”, asked: “Is it wise to try to regulate social media platforms? Can it even be done?

He, however, added that, “These questions are vexing lawmakers in almost every democracy. And finally – after years of debate – some answers are coming into view.”

According to Susskind, the argument for regulation is not predicated on claims that particular platforms are actually biased or not, but more because they have the power to influence democratic discourse without appropriate checks, while they are not necessarily insulated against mistakes.

“They might make decisions that offend the basic norms of a free society. They might inadvertently design systems that harm the democratic process. Just like others in positions of social responsibility—lawyers, doctors, bankers, pilots—those who assume the power to control the speech environment ought to be subject to a degree of oversight. Why are there higher qualifications and standards for a person who runs a pharmacy than for a person who runs a major social platform?” Susskind asked.

In its 2023 review of major fake news that went viral in the Nigerian social media space, the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), while it listed the 2023 general election as having more than its fair share of fake news, stated that false news from other climes found their ways into the Nigerian social media space – easily.

Some notable fake news that caught the attention of Nigerians and the international community included when the Adamawa All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Dahiru (Binani), read her acceptance speech after she was illegally declared the governor-elect by the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Ari, who had no power to announce the winner of the election.

Only the state collation officer appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had such powers. Even the reputable Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) televised the misleading news.

On September 11, 2023, news went viral that a visa ban placed on Nigerian travelers by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been lifted, and that Etihad Airways and Emirates Airlines would resume flights in and out of Nigeria.

The UAE had placed a visa ban on citizens of about 20 African countries, including Nigeria, but the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, shared a fake news that the ban had been lifted with immediate effect. The news was contradicted by other credible news outlets.

Nigerians also participated in effectively circulating the fake and unconfirmed story that broke on social media on June 4, 2023, that Sweden had become the first country to officially recognise sex as a sport and a tournament would take place on June 8, which would feature participants from different European countries, which would span several weeks under the supervision of the Swedish Sex Federation.

The spokesperson for the Swedish Sports Confederation, Anna Setzman, had a huge job debunking the story.

The fake photo of the Lagos State Labour Party (LP) deputy governorship candidate in the 2023 governorship election, Islamiyat Oyefusi, smoking is another instance.

Also, despite that the Kaduna Election Tribunal, had dismissed suit filed by Isah Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the victory of Governor Uba Sani of the APC, in it’s judgment of September 28, 2023, the latter willfully misled the public by tweeting that the court nullified the election.

Still in 2023, an unverified news went viral that the Lagos State Government earmarked N2 billion for toiletries. It easily put the government in bad light. The Lagos State Government later came out to clarify that it was an excel error. Actually, N20 million was what was set aside for that purpose.

The list is endless, but among cases of fake news with fatal consequences was in June 2018, when images of a child’s corpse in his blood stain, a man’s cracked skull and bodies in mass graves went viral on Facebook in Nigeria.

The attack was blamed on Fulani Muslims in Plateau State. The reprisal attack led several Berom youths to drag Fulani men out of their cars and killed them. No fewer than 10 people died. Plateau State has remained a hotbed of hostilities. A BBC investigation linked the killings in the state to disinformation spread on Facebook.

In a nutshell, the Nigerian social media space is toxic and characterised by a significant amount of false information, hoaxes, pornography, unverified rumors, digitally altered video and photos that portray what did not actually take place.

Nigeria is not alone in the challenge. It is a global threat, but it could be more injurious to emerging economies such as Nigeria. The danger is made worse by the fact that while internet is rising at geometric progression, education level is growing at arithmetic progression.

A check around the world simply shows that countries are not leaving the social media platform and the users to act without regulations. In Germany, for instance, NetzDG law came into effect at the beginning of 2018.

It stipulated that companies with more than two million registered users in the country must set up procedures to review complaints about content they were hosting, remove anything that was clearly illegal within 24 hours and publish updates every six months about how they were doing.

A social media user could be fined up to €5m ($5.6m; £4.4m) and companies up to €50m for failing to comply with these requirements. On its part, the European Union (EU) is considering a clampdown, specifically on terror videos and social media platforms face fines if they do not delete extremist content within an hour.

In Australia, following the live streaming of the New Zealand shootings on Facebook, the Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act came into effect in 2019. This attracted criminal penalties for social media companies, possible jail sentences for tech executives for up to three years and financial penalties worth up to 10 percent of a company’s global turnover when such content is shared.

Can you recall Charlotte Dawson, a TV presenter and a judge on Australia’s Next Top Model? She killed herself in 2014 after cyber-bullying against her on Twitter. As a result, Australia’s government put in place the Enhancing Online Safety Act and created an eSafety Commissioner in 2015.

It was saddled with the power to demand that social media companies take down harassing or abusive posts. In 2018, the powers were expanded to include revenge porn under which the eSafety Commissioner’s office can issue companies with 48-hour “takedown notices”, and fines of up to 525,000 Australian dollars (£285,000). But it can also fine individuals up to A$105,000 for posting the content.

While most social media users in Nigeria have nothing to lose, and as such can attack anyone they so wish, it must not be lost on the nation that some people (not only government officials) are the victims.

Recently, Nigeria’s Queen of Afrobeat, Tiwa Savage, was targeted in a viral sex-scandal video. Though she survived that social media attack, the perpetrators meant to destroy everything she had worked for over the years.

In the same breath, some Super Eagles players, including Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina were so bullied on the social media for no just or reasonable reasons, that a terrified Iwobi had to delete all his post on the social media.

At a time Nigeria is experiencing the current level of economic hardship, it is best to put in place some regulations to guide what is put out there.

Regulating the social media is not the same as censorship. What it means is that you must be responsible for and be able to account for every information disseminated on the social media.

Laws of slander, defamation and libel should be applicable. Social media users cannot be faceless terrors. Platforms must be able to account for its users so that terrorists don’t hide behind a fake name to create mayhem. The earlier this is considered a necessity, the better for the collective good.