Justin Trudeau, the Canadian
prime minister, has appointed Steven Guilbeault as the country’s minister of
heritage to create new regulations for social media.
Guilbeault, whose appointment was
disclosed in a mandate letter dated December 13, was asked to create new laws
that would curb online harm including hate speech.
However, unlike that of Nigeria
which targets social media users, the letter stated that the laws would require
platforms to remove potentially harmful contents or face sanctions.
It quoted Trudeau as listing as
the official’s mandates: “Create new regulations for social media platforms,
starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content,
including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties.
“This should include other online
harms such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children,
or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda.”
…COMPARING THE SOCIAL MEDIA LEGISLATION WITH NIGERIA’S
Like Canada, Nigeria through the
senate recently began a move to regulate the use of social media through a bill
that has since passed for second reading.
The bill tagged, ‘Protection From
Internet Falsehoods and Manipulation and Other Related Matters Bill’, has been
widely criticised with many Nigerians saying it is an infringement on their
constitutional rights.
Unlike that of Canada, the
intended legislation targets Nigerian citizens with specific provisions such as
is seen in part 2 section 3, which reads: “(1) A person must not do any act in
or outside Nigeria in order to transmit in Nigeria a statement knowing or
having reason to believe that — (a) it is a false statement of fact; and (b)
the communication of the statement in Nigeria is likely to — (i) be prejudicial
to the security of Nigeria or any part of Nigeria….”
The social media regulation bill
also proposes “a fine not exceeding N300, 000 or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 3 years or to both”.
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