SENATE, INTERNET FALSEHOOD AND HATE SPEECH
Where the media are free, the market place of ideas sorts the irresponsible from the responsible and rewards the later - Anonymous
For media practitioners, oddities -particularly human tragedies and other forms of unfortunate occurrences often always sell the newspaper. But there is a more important consideration. In more civil times, similar happenings elicit condemnations from the media, well -meaning citizens and civil society organizations. Ultimately, part of, or combination of the above-mentioned position(s) accounted for the ripple reactions that greeted the recent news about the senate’s reintroduction of two separate but related bills in a space of one week- Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, and the Hate Speech Bill.
At the most basic level, while the Internet Falsehood and Manipulations bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, (APC Niger East), among other provisions, seeks to curtail the spread of fake information. And seeks a three-year jail term for anyone involved in what it calls the abuse of social media or an option of fine of N150, 000 or both. It is also proposing a fine of N10 million for media houses involved in peddling falsehood or misleading the public.
The hate speech bill on its part, proposes that any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction. This is in addition to its call for the establishment of an ‘Independent National Commission for Hate Speech’, which shall enforce hate speech laws across the country.
The most telling evidence about the bills, good intention is signposted in their resolve to curtail the spread of fake information and hate speech in the country. However, in connection with these bills, it is necessary to especially stress at some points which, apply generally. Specifically, when one looks at these complex provisions, it will not be an overstatement to characterize as a misguided priority the reintroduction of such bills as our failure as a nation lies not in fake news or hate speech but in the system.
Social media is not just another platform for disseminating falsehood. Rather, it is a platform for pursuing the truth, and the decentralized creation and distribution of ideas; in the same way, that government is a decentralized body for the promotion and protection of the people’s life chances. It is a platform, in other words, for development that the government must partner with instead of vilification.
As strategic insights will reveal, these bills came at a time when the dust raised by a similar move from the House of Representatives to reintroduce a similar bill seeking regulation of non-profitable organizations (NPOs), was yet to settle. A bill which has as far-reaching restrictive provisions-establishment of regulatory commissions to facilitate and coordinate the work of all national and international civil society organisations; and assist in checking any likelihood of any civil society organisation being illegally sponsored against the interest of Nigeria.
This leads to another observation that probably does more than anything else to convince Nigerians to look differently at the bills.
Precisely, a nation can make laws on the basis of its real functional strength as the case may be. But coming with such bill in a country where constructive debate is never given a chance as it’s often seen as ‘unnecessary and divisive. Deferring political ideas and strategies are perceived as destructive to the nation’s interest, open discussion is now seen as a challenge to the leader.
Under this circumstance, how can Nigerians draw a line or identify what constitutes fake news or hate speech? And who will be the judge? To further lend credence to this argument, it is a wellestablished axiom that ‘without wood, the fire goes out, charcoal keeps the ember glowing as wood keeps the fire burning’. Same is applicable to the factors propelling fake news hateful speeches. It is a barefaced truth that the dearth of leadership, the asymmetrical posturing of our political space and the refusal to have it restructured, among others, propels fake news and hate speech.
To many, no volume of excuse generated by the lawmakers to defend their position for coming up with such bill can be sustained as the whole episode in my view is misguided, ill-timed.
What is even most frightening about these proposed bills is that at a time when world leaders are standing up with sets of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by citizens, giving others the benefits of the doubt, providing support and recognizing the interests and achievements of its citizens, such in the estimation of our lawmakers have become the time to threaten its citizens with jail terms and capital punishments.