The controversial Social Media Bill which has been heavily criticized
\nhas passed second reading in the Nigeria Senate.<\/p>\n
The bill on Wednesday passed second reading with support by majority of
\nSenators.<\/p>\n
This is despite opposition to the proposed legislation by Nigerian
\ncitizens who are of the opinion that the bill seeks to fight free
\nspeech.<\/p>\n
During the debate, only one lawmaker, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani opposed
\nthe bill. He argued that there is legislation in the country namely the
\nCyber Crimes Act which addresses internet falsehood.<\/p>\n
The Senate, however directed its committee on judiciary to work on the
\nbill and return in four weeks.<\/p>\n
The bill was introduced to the Senate on Tuesday, November 5, 2019.<\/p>\n
According to the sponsor of the bill, Mohammed Sani Musa, a member of
\nthe ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Niger East
\nSenatorial District, it will regulate the use of social media in Nigeria
\nand curb fake news on the internet.<\/p>\n
A similar anti-social media bill introduced by the previous eighth
\nSenate, sparked outrage across the country, and was later withdrawn.<\/p>\n
The bill, if passed into law, seeks to prevent falsehoods and
\nmanipulations and counter the effects of such communications and
\ntransmission to sanction offenders with a view of encouraging and
\nenhancing transparency by social media platforms using the internet
\ncorrespondences.<\/p>\n
The controversial Social Media Bill which has been heavily criticized has passed second reading in the Nigeria Senate. The bill on Wednesday passed second reading with support by majority of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n