First we're hearing of it in this forum is in Bode Dolu's Blog and the first question one wonders is that blog beaming from within Nigeria or somewhere else in the big bad world? From the idyllic background scenery of mountains and fir trees it looks like the blogger is somewhere in the upper Northern hemisphere far from sunshine, River Niger and plenty of trouble….
I'm looking forward to Doyen Ayo Olukotun's take on the coming censorship of Social Media in Nigeria. Will take my cue from him
Where does one draw the line between Social media and "the media", generally?
What role do both play in a healthy democracy?
Human nature is such that you pass a law and the temptation is for people to want to break it – to test the limits and therefore the prayer "and lead us not into temptation"…
This is a matter of great concern, considering that up till now Nigeria has enjoyed a worldwide reputation of media/press freedom - now to be replaced by fear - the fear that the poetic license of the poet is about to be withdrawn and other serious critics may be banned from the social media space which is such an essential part of the freedom of speech and the Media/ press freedom that goes with the kind of democracy that we all cherish. Because other countries have blocked or are censoring social media doesn't mean that Nigeria has to follow in their footsteps or does it?
The other fear is that this could be just the beginning of what could progressively develop into draconian measures to gag legitimate criticism. The WWW Internet is really complicated, so exactly how are the media police going to go about it within Nigeria? It was bad enough when Doyin Okupe was going to criminalise the use of the word clueless to describe President Goodluck Jonathan foundering or his fumbling response to the kidnap of the Chibok Girls.
Responsible criticism is always ok and one would have thought that the slander and libel laws and other state security laws have always been sufficient to deal with the usual kinds of problems dealing with misinformation, incitement to violence etc.
One does not have to be a prophet or a surfeit of common sense to understand that if the social media is heavily censored then the Social media that operates outside of Nigeria (thinking of the critically anti-government media) will most probably go into overdrive.
It is to be expected that the bill will generate enormous criticism both inside and outside Nigeria.
But before we all get carried away the question is exactly what are the contents of the proposed Social Media Censorship Bill?
Whatever the contents, bloggers like this one and others who cherish the free word will start paying more attention to Nigeria
Cornelius
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