The Federal Government, on Friday, said despite that fake news and misinformation on social media fuelled the recent #EndSARS crisis, it would not shut down the internet or stifle press freedom.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while speaking with newsmen in Lagos, reiterated that the government would not sit down and allow “a reckless use of social media to aggravate our fault lines and throw the country into turmoil.”
“But in curbing the excesses of social media, rest assured, gentlemen, that we will neither shut down the internet nor stifle press freedom or free speech, as some have insinuated. We also acknowledge that social media is here to stay,” he added.
Mohammed said, “The issue of how fake news and disinformation aggravated the EndSARS crisis has dominated our previous meetings with various stakeholders.
“We have no doubt that fake news and disinformation fuelled the crisis. But we are also not surprised. This is because since 2017, we have been raising the alarm about the dangers of social media abuse. In 2017, we dedicated that year’s National Council on Information to the issue of fake news, hate speech and disinformation. The following year, in 2018, we launched the national campaign against fake news and disinformation, partnering with a number of print and electronic media organizations.”
