By Angela Nkwo
For some strange reasons, many Nigerians find it convenient to bask in the euphoria of ex-rated content on social media because within hours anything breaks, it takes over national discourse amidst glee, even when it may have visuals that involve violence, bloodshed, rape, or even sex by consenting adults. The only twist is they share these content maliciously and with reckless abandon.
Many take to their social media handles to volunteer to share to interested persons who desire to watch not forgetting their reviews which may sometimes be vengeful.
In Nigeria, people wake up to discover that their WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media handles have been hacked which takes days, sometimes months to recover. The hackers consider it an easy way to steal contacts and by extension make brisk money off innocent helpers, an action that has left many hospitalised as such hackers always claim a family member is sick or needs urgent medical attention.
Only recently, a social media user through his handle accused a celebrated gospel singer of allegedly fathering the child of a colleague married to another person. Within hours, different users shared the damning post without any thoughts on the trauma it would cause the people.
A female musician recently had intimate moments with a man, but unknown to her, the act was recorded and leaked online. Trust Netizens, they circulated the video across different social media platforms. Her little child was not spared as his classmates told him that their parents warned them to stay away so they are not corrupted. Her parents went into hiding because their friends kept forwarding the video to them coupled with the barrage of visitors to their home. Luckily for her, the buzz died down and her career picked up yet not one Netizen has apologised for sharing indecent contents about her nor any wondered if the incident may have led her to depression.
In Equitorial Guinea, a woman committed suicide after a sex tape with a sexual partner leaked, she couldn’t deal with the trauma that accompanied the backlash.
In Nigeria, not many people know nor understand that the digital space demanded certain rules, most especially respect digital rights of every user. If they did, they probably wouldn’t share incriminating contents involving other people, without consent.
Concerned about the protection of digital rights, Avocats Sans Frontières France (ASF) has assembled technocrats from different sectors to fashion out how to ensure safer digital presence for Nigerians via bills and sensitization.
ASF country Director, Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu explained that the project was in collaboration with Spaces for Change and CITAD, noting that digital rights were basic human rights as they protect users from abuse and harmful content.
Already, trainings have begun for 26 representatives drawn from the academia, government, regulating agencies, tech companies, civil society, and media, who will play a vital role in the conception and drafting of a comprehensive policy guide on digital rights in Nigeria.
Truth is digital literacy was important to ensure the safety of anyone using the digital space especially now where minors have access because their parents provided them with gadgets with internet ready access which can unfortunately expose them to abuse.
Most times, women were the biggest hit prey online as many were subjected to vile and body-shaming comments. Probably a major reason so many have gone under the knife to get the supposed ideal shape.
The digital rights group is expected to produce a document that will serve as a crucial road map for future policy discussions and advocacy efforts on digital safety.
The group has called on national assembly to help remove the law ambiguities that centres on infringement on digital use and safety. This no doubt will help to protect women who suffer trolling and stop the harassment of journalists, because laws should promote safe spaces for everyone.
Already, there had been a rise on bills seeking to regulate digital use even as security operatives used it to track down supposed critics of government.
It is disheartening to wake up and realise one’s bank accounts were frozen on the orders of security agencies not minding the implications on the person’s family, feeding, medical, and several other issues.
Though many people are seen with phones yet it is estimated that bout 27.1million Nigerians lack access to the internet, while many lack digital literacy and have no cyberspace hygiene nor safety skills.
For instance, there are no community based communication operators who are supposed to service rural communities, even as USPF law provides that they should give loans and grants to community based communication operators.
While digital literacy was key but it is dependent on digital skills and everyone irrespective of social standing should have access.
Digital rights include freedom of expression and speech, right to privacy, right to data protection, internet neutrality, freedom from online harassment, right to internet access amongst others.
Unfortunately, advocating digital rights in Nigeria is vague because there is no single encompassing statute or law protecting the interest of online users in the country though there had been an explosion of internet users in Africa over the past two decades.
Some digital rights law in Nigeria include the 1999 constitution as amended, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) act 2007, the cybercrime crime act, and the Nigeria Data Protection act 2023 (NDPA).
On it’s part, section 37 of the 1999 constitution as amended provides that “the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed” but people don’t obey it.
Obviously, very few people pay attention to this law, especially security agencies who have unrestricted access to mandate telecommunication providers to tap into it for the purposes of information gathering.
While the NITDA act 2007 provides that Nigerian users were entitled to their privacy, communication and online platforms fail to consider those rights when sharing user data. It is suspected that digital banks sell people’s data with reckless abandon.
Further, NITDA as the regulating agency for all information technology matters in Nigeria, is the principal regulatory agency for online platforms that facilitate consumers exchanging communication with each other via the internet in text, picture, or video formats.
However, digital rights hold three concerns for potential users especially women. These include protection and integrity of date and information, fear of privacy invasion, and harmful conduct such as gender violence online.
Unfortunately, not many people understand that digital rights are full fledged rights that must be respected or why else do people troll some others online, situation that may leave the victim depressed and cyber bullied.
However, it is envisaged that soon, such occurrences will be stopped while defaulters are prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
The digital rights group has called for massive enlightenment of people to embrace digital literacy with their rights protected by the relevant agencies and how to ensure safety of anyone using digital tools irrespective of age.
Already, Avocats Sans Frontières has under the e-rights project trained over 1000 students including students with special needs across 10 schools in Lagos and Kano states on digital rights. The programme was aimed at raising awareness and knowledge of students on protective mechanisms that enhance their access and safety on the internet.
Further, it has submitted a memorandum for the amendment of the cybercrime act 2015 and particularly called for a review of section 24 which is currently used to harass, intimate, arrest and intimate
It is envisaged that soon, social media users will understand that while using the digital space, it is absolutely crucial to respect the rights of others which will foster digital safety rights of Nigerians irrespective of age and social standing.
