Tag: Regulation

Plans are underway to regulate Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, TikTok, and other social media platforms in the country. This is conveyed in the draft guideline recently released by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) which contains new directives and conditions for social media platforms operating in Nigeria. The essence of this guideline according to NITDA, is to curb online abuse, including disinformation and misinformation, as well as protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country. Part of the guideline states that these social media platforms shall “not deploy or modify their Platform in any way that will undermine or interfere with the application and/or enforcement of the law.”

Amidst other contents, the draft code of practices provides that interactive computer service platforms/internet intermediaries shall;

• Register with the country’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
• Appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities.
• Abide by all regulatory demands after establishing a legal presence.
• Comply with all applicable tax obligations on its operations under Nigerian law.
• Provide a comprehensive compliance mechanism to avoid publication of prohibited content[s] and unethical behavior on their platform.
• Provide information to authorities on harmful accounts, suspected botnets, troll groups, and other coordinated disinformation networks and delete any information that violates Nigerian law within an agreed time. Such information demand from a platform or an intermediary must be specific and accompanied with a valid court order.
• Take down all unlawful or harmful content within 24hrs of demand.
• Exercise due diligence to ensure that no harmful content is uploaded on their site.
• Provide a channel for lodging complaints and each complaint should be with a unique tracking number and how such complaint has been resolved with sufficient information.
• Provide clear terms of service in simple language that can be understood and how it’s services can be accessed and used.
• File annual compliance report on the activities of the platform for the year; number of users (active and non-active); complaints received (how many have been resolved and how many are pending; contents taken down, etc.
• Preserve information on contents taken down and number of users that are no longer registered with the platform for some time.
• Large platforms must be registered in Nigeria and have a physical office and a liaison officer.
• Must invest in creating awareness on misinformation and disinformation and how credible contents can be verified.
• Must abide by Nigerian laws and not deploy or modify their Platform in any way that will undermine or interfere with the application and/or enforcement of the law.

According to NITDA, the draft code of practice was developed through the collaboration of the different stakeholders in the communication industry, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), with inputs from Interactive Computer Service Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, and TikTok, among others. Already, the proposed draft code of practice has been criticized by many, different stakeholders see it as a ploy to regulate social media and other online platforms through the backdoor by circumventing the legislative process. They are urging the government to backtrack on the plan or face the consequences.

There have been several attempts by the Federal Government to regulate social media and other online platforms in Nigeria since the inception of this administration in 2015. Towards the end of 2015, the then Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Na’Allah sponsored a bill for an Act to prohibit Frivolous petitions and other matters connected therewith. This attempted legislation was meant to regulate the use of social media min Nigeria. Following public outcry over certain contentious provisions contained in it and opposition mounted by civil society organisations and other stakeholders, the Senate withdrew the controversial bill.

In 2018, the Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, representing Niger East Senatorial District, sponsored another bill for protection from Internet falsehoods and manipulation. The bill proposed for the regulation, control and conduct, the use of the Internet and various social platforms in the transmission of information in Nigeria. The bill was quashed in 2020 because of groundswell opposition mounted by various stakeholders including civil society organisations.

Similarly, on the 5^th of June 2021, the government of Nigeria banned twitter, a micro-blogging platform in Nigeria, following the deletion of tweets made by President Muhammed Buhari from its platform, on the heels of his treat which warned the Igbos of the southeastern people of Nigeria, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War due to the ongoing insurgency in the region. The ban which was condemned by different groups, organisations and individuals, including the Amnesty International, the British, Canadian and Swedish diplomatic missions to Nigeria, etc., was lifted on the 13^th of January 2022.

If the current plan by the government to regulate social media activities works, it means that the government has succeeded in clipping the voices of many Nigerians who use the social media to voice out their grievances against the perceived injustice in the country. This would have a negative impact on the revenue of telecoms operators because the number of people who use social media to push information even when they are not sure of the sources of such information will reduce, and this also would reduce the amount of data purchased. While it cannot be denied that there are a lot of misinformation in the social media space, the positive aspect of it should be considered. It is obvious that the social media has affected the world in many advantageous ways. it has help to checkmate the excesses of tyrannous government and has helped to expose impunities in many places. Its advantage far outweighs the negative side.

In line with the constitution which makes 18 years as the age of consent in Nigeria, the NCC is set to enforce the contract between service providers and their subscribers. One of such is to disallow a minor or a person less than 18 years from engaging in the contract of SIM acquisition which requires a person of proper legal status to undertake. In the Reviewed/Draft Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations, presented on Tuesday, October 6, 2021, a subscriber is a person of 18 years and above, with a proper legal status, and matured and rational enough to bear certain responsibilities, obligations and liabilities imposed by a contract.

In order not to contravene the constitution, the NCC intends to limit SIM acquisition to those of this legal status. In the Reviewed/Draft Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations, the NCC defines any person below the age of 18 as minor, while a “subscriber is a person from the age of 18 years who subscribes to communications services by purchasing a subscription medium or entering into a subscription contract with a licensee.” It is therefore incumbent on parents or guardian of such people to acquire SIMs in their names for their children and wards under this age. However, they must be ready to take responsibilities for any liability that might accrue thereafter from the use of such SIM card. The policy therefore puts a significant responsibility on parents and guardians to monitor the activities of their minors.

The implication of this policy is that any person below the age of 18 is disqualified from registering and owning a SIM card in any of the network companies in Nigeria. If the policy comes in place, network operators will in the short run delete and loss the subscribers who are not of this age. The ability of them to gain back these subscribers in the long run will depend on the ability of parents and guardians to have the trust that will catalyze them to register SIMs for their adolescents. Even at that, those below the age of 18 without parents, guardians or people who can place adequate trust on them will be lost completely until they reach the legal age of contract as provided by the constitution. This may result to another round of revenue loss to the telecoms companies in Nigeria.