The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has asked all
social media platforms and online broadcasting service providers operating in
Nigeria to apply for broadcast licence.
Armstrong Idachaba, the NBC director-general, gave the
directive in a newspaper advertorial published on Thursday.
This follows the federal government’s announcement that
Twitter and other social media platforms must register as a Nigerian company
for them “to do business in Nigeria.”
It re-echoes concerns raised by allegations that the Buhari
administration is clamping down on free speech and internet freedom — the
government denies this.
Idachaba said in the advertorial that the NBC establishment
code empowers the commission to ask the companies to be licensed.
Section two (b) of the NBC act of 2004 states: “(1) The
Commission shall have [the] responsibility of: Receiving, processing and
considering applications for the establishment, ownership or operation of radio
and television stations including (i) cable television services, direct
satellite broadcast and any other medium of broadcasting.”
The advertorial reads: “The National Broadcasting Commission
(NBC) hereby directs every Online Broadcast Service provider and Social Media
Platforms operating within the Nigerian State to apply and obtain broadcast
licence for their service(s).
“Note that any Online Broadcast Service Provider that fails
to obtain a licence will be considered an illegal entity.”
It is not immediately clear whether the directive applies
strictly to only broadcast organisations or not.
Although no direction has been drawn, the government moved
to license social media companies after Twitter took down a tweet by President
Muhammadu Buhari, after stating that the message violates its policy.
In the tweet, the president had threatened to treat
Nigerians “misbehaving” in “the language they understand”.
Two days after the incident, the federal government
suspended Twitter in Nigeria and directed NBC to “immediately commence the
process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria”.
The NBC also directed broadcast stations to stop using Twitter,
saying it “will be unpatriotic for any broadcaster in Nigeria to continue to
patronise” the microblogging site.
The action heightens concerns about press freedom which were
raised after the commission reviewed its code to, among other things, increase
the fine for “hate speech” from N500,000 to N5 million.
A number of media houses have been sanctioned in line with
the code which many Nigerians and groups said targets press freedom and critics
of the Buhari administration.
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