National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Tayo Olanipekun
A coalition comprising of 47 civil society organisations in Africa and other parts of the world has criticized governments’ attempts to regulate the use of social media with legislation on “hate speech” and “fake news.”
The move will decrease the openness of the internet, “mask human rights violations and create barriers to long-term stability and peaceful dialogue,” the organisations said in a joint statement on Wednesday distributed by Paradigm Initiative.
The coalition said Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia and The Gambia are already drafting legislation on the issues without regards to their obligation to protect the right of everyone to freedom of opinion and expression.
It urged the respective policy-making institutions and agencies considering what it called rights-hurting bills, to take steps to discontinue “all draft legislations with provisions that would negatively impact how people participate online and use digital platforms.”
The Nigerian Senate, in October, introduced the Communication Service Tax Bill, proposing a monthly tax burden on users of electronic communications services such as voice calls, SMS, MMS, pay-per-view services, and internet communication services.
In November, it also introduced the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, seeking to regulate communications in cyberspace.
The the Bill’s sponsor, Senator Sani Musa, said the Bill was being presented for “patriotic Nigerians who want peace for the country.”
This is as the National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches Bill 2019 was also introduced in November, to establish an Independent National Commission for Hate Speech.
The Bill has elicited a lot of debates in the public space as it prescribes a range of punishments, including death by hanging for purveyors of hate speech, as the Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has insisted the country will go ahead with the proposed regulation.
The trend is also similar in Ethiopia where, on November 9, 2019, the cabinet approved a new bill called the Computer Crime Proclamation Bill that aims to prevent hate speech and dissemination of fake news.
In the same month, the Cameroonian government presented a bill in parliament that seeks to criminalize hate speech and tribalism while The Gambia also has the Media Services Bill, which has been criticized as targeting journalists and their ability to do their work.
