Censorship Issues In Nigeria Outline The Need For Decentralization

Censorship issues in Nigeria as well as the social unrest and crushing the freedom of speech in the country, only highlight the need for censorship-resistant and decentralized networks so let’s read more in our blockchain news.

The talks about the anti-social Media Bill to prevent the Nigerian people from protesting against their government only shows us the need for decentralized social networks. Following the recent EndSARS protests against police brutality in Nigeria, the government returned a previous bill which criminalizes the use of social media and restricts free speech. Authorities claimed the bill dubbed “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations” is a part of the government’s efforts to curb the fake news on social media networks. The goal is to regulate social media across the country which will of course regulate free speech but luckily for the people, the bill died out a few months later.

However, the talks about the bill resurfaced after the Nigerian youth staged a few protests against oppression and police brutality. The Special Anti-Robbery squat division was extorting and killing young people and it went on for years until the EndSars campaign started on social media and was backed by hundreds of protesters across the country. The campaign received massive from the global community and even Twitter’s Jack Dorsey supported the Nigerians in their fight against police brutality.

Funds were also donated in both crypto and fiat to support the protesters. Seeing the role of social media in the protests, the Nigerian government brought back the Anti-social Media bill that It was proposed in 2019. The authorities continued to claim that curbing fake news is the main goal of the bill. According to the minister for information and culture Lai Mohammed, Nigerian youths were mobilizing themselves for the protests on social media so regulating this sector is necessary:

 “They mobilized using social media. The war today revolves around two things. Smartphones and data. We are sitting on a time bomb on this issue of fake news. Unfortunately, we have no national policy on social media and we need one. When we went to China, we could not get google, Facebook, and Instagram. You could not even use your email in China because they made sure it is censored and well regulated.”