The Nigeria police force has
proposed a fake news prohibition act in the country.
The police made the proposal on
Wednesday during a fake news conference organised by the BBC world service in
Abuja.
But some experts at the programme
including Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, argued that rather than introduce a new
law to fight fake news, existing ones should be implemented.
Decrying the spate of fake news
in Nigeria, Abayomi Shogunle, head, public complaint rapid response unit at the
force headquarters, said such laws will also curb circulation of fake news on
social media.
“And I believe Nigeria, we are
still not doing enough to fight fake news. There should be fake news
prohibition act; not just cyber crime act. There should be fake news
prohibition act.”
Soyinka, however, said Nigeria
has “sufficient legislation to check fake news”.
“So it is left for the law
enforcement agencies to take these a little more seriously. Beyond the physical
harm, fake news also disrupts the mentality of a vulnerable generation,” he
said.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said
to curb fake news, especially on the social media, there should be more
collaboration between countries.
“The traditional media obviously
operate in a more responsible manner and the simple reason it is so is because
there are consequences and it is much easier to hold them to account to help
regulate social media,” he said.
“(But) there is an opportunity
for more collaboration; in other words, shouldn’t we be looking at some kind of
conventions and agreements between nations.”
Festus Okoye, a national
commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
acknowledged that fake news constitutes a “serious” challenge to the
forthcoming elections.
He suggested a way out of the
problem: “I think we should try to understand the dynamics of social media and
try to compete. If a fake story is out, you put out the rebuttal and let both
compete. In terms of the traditonal media, I believe we should have more
specialisation, better training.”
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