Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said the Federal Government must regulate the social media so that it does not become the purveyor of “fake news and hate speech.”
Speaking in Lagos on Saturday when he inspected the headquarters of The Nation newspaper and TV Continental (TVC) that were attacked in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest, he said, “We must regulate the social media in a manner that it does not become a purveyor of fake news and hate speech.”
He said the Federal Government has no intention of shutting down social media, but it will regulate the platforms, because President Muhammadu Buhari has high regards for press freedom.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the minister was accompanied on the inspection by heads of parastatal agencies in his ministry.
He said his recent call for the regulation of the excesses of the social media should not be misconstrued for a total ban.
“We did not at any time say that we will shut down the social media,” he said.
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“Social media has come to stay and it will be an antithesis to democracy to shut it down because it is the fastest way of disseminating information.
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“However, we must regulate the social media in a manner that it does not become a purveyor of fake news and hate speech.
“We will not fold our arms to allow purveyors of fake news and hate speech to use the social media to destabilise the country,” he said.
The minister said the government foresaw the danger of fake news and hate speech as far back as 2017.
“We saw as far back as 2017 that the next epidemic that will hit Nigeria and the entire world is fake news and misinformation.
“Based on that, we dedicated an entire National Council on Information meeting in Jos to the issue.
“After this, we launched a national campaign on fake news on July 11, 2018, where we stressed that the next war will be fought without a shot being fired but with the use fake news.
“We did not stop there. We went on a tour of all media houses seeking their support against fake news,” he said.
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