Femi Falana, a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, has called on Nigerian journalists and concerned civil society organisations to self-regulate their use of social media to curb the spread of misinformation.
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), such self-regulation would also stave off a likely shutdown of social media by the government.
Falana made this recommendation while delivering the keynote address at a workshop on “Fake News, Internet Shutdown and 2023 Elections,’’ in Lagos on Thursday.
Falana, noted that the abuse of social media often resulted in journalists being sued for libel or for terrorism.
He added that some journalists had also been charged under the Cybercrimes Act for misuse of the social media.
The human rights lawyer said to avoid such occurrences, civil society organisations (CSOs) and journalists should ensure that they self-regulate social media instead of depending on government to do same.
“I call on the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigerian Union of Journalists and civil society organisations to sit down and ensure that suggestions are made on the responsible use of social media.
“This is necessary so that we will not continue to play into the hands of desperate anti-democratic forces that are bent on regulating the social media to suit their own selfish objectives,’’ he said
Falana added that instead of discussing the affairs of the country on the side-lines, CSOs should engage in ways to acquire political power to...
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