Nigerians have taken to Twitter to speak against the social media bill with the hashtag #SayNoToSocialMediaBill
OSG earlier reported that the bill was sponsored by Mohammed Sani Musa to regulate the use of social media.
According to the bill, whoever disseminates a wrong information would be fined the sum of N150,000 or a maximum imprisonment of three years or both.
While a corporate organization, like MTN, Glo, 9 mobile that refused to block a false information if it was alerted about it, would be penalised between N5 million to N10 million.
After the bill passed the second reading, Nigerians have taken to their social media pages to criticize it.
Read some reactions below:
This year, Iran announced that it wanted to increase the price of fuel
Iranians protested and the government reacted by shutting down the internet in the country to stop the protest and isolate Iran from the world
This is what some people in power want#SayNoToSocialMediaBill
— Dr. Chinonso Egemba (@aproko_doctor) November 22, 2019
Good morning ! Hope all is well. Well it’s not. If the social media bill passes law enforcement agencies have the right to shut down internet at any time.This means if we are shouting about something our government is doing.They can TURN OFF our internet! #SayNoToSocialMediaBill pic.twitter.com/5CDw33djsx
— Bolanle Olukanni (@bolanleolukanni) November 22, 2019
Everyone should be tweeting about this right now. Social media is where we’ve found justice, where we’ve been able to keep our leaders on their toes, where we are able to communicate far and wide and rally for social good. It affects ALL OF US. #SayNoToSocialMediaBill
— Ebele (@ebelee_) November 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/BhadmusAkeem/status/1197812074564509696
If this bill is passed, you will wake up one morning and realise that you can't access the internet because someone around you made a "hate speech" #SayNoToSocialMediaBill pic.twitter.com/9oojwi12Hh
— G15 (@auxanofregs) November 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/That_IjebuBadoo/status/1197809883665616896
https://twitter.com/Biisi96/status/1197830943043735552
A set of people are threatened by the opportunity social media grants the masses , an avenue to voice and challenge actions regardless of status . A government trying to disband freedom of speech is an oppressive system that doesn’t recognise growth . #SayNoToSocialMediaBill
— volqx (@volqx) November 22, 2019
We already got a CyberCrimes Act
We already got a Nigerian Communications Act that monitors Internet intermediaries
These two already give the government power to regulate & act on hateful speech & false information.
Why do we need a Social Media Act?#SayNoToSocialMediaBill
— Ugwunna Ejikem (@UgwunnaEjikem) November 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/OlumideOG/status/1197828301483597824
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