The President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government through the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has on Monday, issued new Regulations for all the social media and internet platforms that are used in Nigeria by Nigerians and non-Nigerians,
A statement signed by the NITDA Spokesperson, Hadiza Umar, said that the new Regulations were designed to protect the “fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country, as well as define Guidelines for interacting on the digital ecosystem”.
The Regulations require the social media and internet platforms to “register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and appoint a designated Country Representative to interface with Nigerian authorities”.
It also requires that they comply with all regulatory demands and comply with all applicable tax obligations on their operations under Nigerian Law.
On content moderation, the NITDA said that the internet platforms must “provide a comprehensive compliance mechanism, to avoid publication of prohibited contents and unethical behaviour on their platform”.
They must also “provide information to authorities on harmful accounts, suspected botnets, troll groups, and other coordinated disinformation networks, and deleting any information that violates Nigerian Law within an agreed time”.
The NITDA said that the new Rules were “developed in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as well as input from Interactive Computer Service Platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, and Tik Tok, among others.
“Other relevant stakeholders with peculiar knowledge in this area were consulted such as Civil Society Organizations and expert groups. The results of this consultations were duly incorporated into the Draft Code of Practice.”
The draft Code of Practice notes that the internet platforms must promptly obey court orders in Nigeria, directing them to provide “information under its domain or any assistance to any authorised government”.
More news later…