The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has said it will sue the National Assembly and the Northern Governors’ Forum should any bill for the regulation of the social media come into effect in the country.
It cautioned the lawmakers against the passage of any proposed social media bill, and the transmission of same to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
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The Northern governors while condemning the #EndSARS protests had on Monday said the social media have “devastating” effects on the country.
The forum in a communique issued after its meeting said, “The meeting took note of the devastating effect of the uncontrolled social media in spreading fake news. Therefore, calls for major control mechanism and censorship of the social media practice in Nigeria.”
SERAP in a tweet on Tuesday while reacting to a proposal by the northern governors for more social media regulations said it will not allow any attempt to tamper citizen’s right to freedom of speech in the country.
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The tweet read, “We’ll sue the Northern Governors’ Forum and the National Assembly if any social media bill is passed and signed by President Buhari. Nigerians have a right to freedom of expression online. We won’t accept any illegal attempts to interfere with that right #NoToSocialMediaBill.”
