Code Of Practice‘ll Improve Content Moderation, Online Safety –
STORIES BY INNOCENT ODOH
The minister of communications and digital economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has said that the recently released Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries and Conditions for Operating in Nigeria will provide opportunity to protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country.
A statement issued yesterday by the spokesperson of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Hadiza Umar said the Code of Practice will also define guidelines for the interaction on digital space.
Prof. Pantami, who was represented by the director general of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, said this at the Nigeria's First Content Moderation and Online Safety Summit organised by the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API) with the theme: “The Challenge for Content Moderation and the Opportunity to Improve Online Safety in Nigeria,”in Abuja.
Reiterating the importance of ensuring a safer platform for online users, he refered to Joe Biden's request to the owner of Facebook, who pleaded that Facebook should moderate dismisinformation on the platform, and Nancy Pelosi's petitions to the House of Representatives requesting Facebook and Twitter to take-down videos of her ripping the SOTU speech.
The minister mentioned the great American patriot Benjamin Franklin's response when asked upon his emergence from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 “What form of government the United States was going to have. Franklin answered succinctly, a Republic if you can keep it.”
Pantami clarified that Franklin's response came 70 years before the emergence of the Republican Party, which means that he was referring to the true meaning of the word “Republic.”
He elaborated that the new democratic republic is not just a new form of government but a government that needs vigilance and at times actions to protect and maintain it.
Elaborating on Republicanism, the minister explained that it is a political ideology connected to the Roman Empire and it means an ideology that opposes having a group, holding control of unaccountable powers, that is domination over others which means a few like the Kings, Emperors, or military dictators, this he compared to the big tech executives noting that today there is a strange power dominating human beings.
He narrated an incident that happened in New Zealand about a facial recognition system that refused to issue a passport to an Asian persons thinking that their eyes were closed.
Essentially, in a democracy, he stated, there are three key things to the development of every individual these are, Power, Freedom, and Justice.
"In the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we shouldn't allow anyone have unaccountable power over others.
“Today looking at the social media incidence before the US election, indicated that Big Tech has more power than the Government. Users are compelled to obey the Big Tech rules because of the restrictions and sanctions in its usage. For example, if you use Twitter there is a limit of the words you can tweet," he said.
He emphasized that in a democratic setting citizens should have representatives elected by people to write rules rather than a few. According to him, “This causes challenges such as the recruitment system being gender biased, or the recognition system being racist, and so on.
“While we need modern software engineers, there is also the need for social engineers to control our social justice. The summit, therefore, is timely and is expected to prompt lead ways to protecting the ungoverned online space.
“From the period of John Ballos declaration in 1996, which explains how he predicted a new cyber world without government, to Eric Smith's comment that cyberspace is an space; to 2018 when Mark Zuckerberg said that the real question