- Safiu Kehinde
The Senate’s bill mandating social platforms on establishing offices in Nigeria has scaled through the second reading.
Embedded in the proposed amendments of the Data Protection Act 2023, the bill suggested phyical presence of social media platforms, which include Facebook, X, and TikTok amongst others, in the country.
Defending the motion for the passage of the bill, Sen. Ned Nwoko held that the bill is not an attack on the platform but a call for equity and fairness.
He explained that the bill is furtherance with the Senate’s commitment to structured and accountable digital space.
Nwoko also called for the inclusion of bloggers in the bill, stressing that they must be properly registered and regulated like traditional media houses.
“This bill is not an attack on these platforms. It is a call for equity and fairness. It is a demand for respect and recognition of Nigeria’s status as a global leader.
“In furtherance of our commitment to structured and accountable digital space, this bill also mandates all bloggers operating in Nigeria to have an office that verifiable across the country.
“They must keep proper records of the employees and belong to recognized national bodies which shall have its headquarters in Abuja.
“We cannot continue to have a situation where individuals operate anonymously, spreading information, mostly false, without and structured accountability.
“Just like traditional media houses, bloggers must be properly registered and regulated to ensure professionalism, transparency, and responsibility in their operations.” Nwoko said.
In his remark before the passage of the bill, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, ruled out the inclusion of bloggers on account of the flexibility of their work pattern.
“Bloggers are slightly different because they can do their business from their bedrooms, cars, plane, anywhere they are.
“I think the best thing is for the bill to go for second reading and after the second reading while we are at the public hearing, a lot of people could be invited to make their input.
“I’m very sure that by the time it comes back to us for possible passage into law, it might definitely be different and much more streamlined.” Akpabio said.
He, however, explained that the bill is intended for tax and clarity purposes and not an attempt to hinder freedom of expression/
“I don’t what it sounds like the Senate is trying to gag the social media. That is not the intention here. The intention is for tax purposes and for the purpose of clarity of what they are doing.
“This is a good bill. However, I was looking to see whether there is anywhere that tend to gag freedom of expression or tend to stop the business of ‘bloggers’ but there is no such thing.” the Senate President added.