SERAP urges NASS to withdraw bill seeking to regulate bloggers
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to immediately withdraw the repressive Bill for an Act to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, which seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the Nigeria’s territorial boundaries.
SERAP urged Akpabio and Abbas to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.
The group also urged them to end the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and internet-based content.
A bill titled “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters” has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
The bill, among others, seeks to regulate bloggers by requiring them to register at local offices and join recognised national associations for bloggers.
In the letter at the weekend and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said the bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back door.
SERAP noted that if passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they continuously fail to establish/register.