The advent of social media has been no doubt life transforming and life defining for many people around the globe. Nigerians are no exceptions.
That, suddenly, communication can be social, seamless and synchronized, with many people around the world able to connect with each other and enjoy unprecedented access to hitherto closed spaces is nothing short of a miracle.
As communication has grown across various social media channels, governments everywhere have become attuned to its ills as well as the dangers it poses to them.
The most authoritarian governments around the world have tried to shut down social media or at least, to regulate it until it is no threat to them.
Even in liberal democracy, there is a recognition of the need for laws regulating social media because truth is, social media has not just grabbed unprecedented access to information and communication to global citizens, it has also become a favorite playground for global master criminals.
Thus, many life-changing connections made on social media have been directly counteracted by the many times it has been used for destructive purposes.
According to Cable.co.uk, and We Are Social in 2024 report., Nigeria, Africa's most populous democracy and economy, ranks in the top five for countries with most social media usage daily. Despite Nigeria's population of about 200 million people, and teeming number of young people, this is still huge.
The report states that Nigerians spend an average of three hours, twenty-three minutes daily on social media. With three hours, forty-three minutes on social media daily, Kenyans spend the most time on social media every day.
Should this be a worry? In a country where cost and access to the internet remains prohibitive, it is a wonder that Nigerians are making efforts to stay connected.
This connection has changed lives in Nigeria by redefining how Nigerians can connect with each other. It has given many young and budding entrepreneurs and creatives the opportunity to showcase their talents to the world, bringing life-changing incomes along with it.
But it has not been all good. Just as social media has been an unprecedented opportunity to connect, giving people a voice to change their lives, it has also been a breeding ground for fake news and hate speech which have proven particularly destructive of social ethos, threatening the very foundations of civilization.
Very often on social media, a spark of fake news or hate speech is ignited, and because the space is particularly attuned to lies and misinformation, a firestorm of lies and hate is soon set off, spreading fast and incinerating lives and reputations in the process.
This does not mean that efforts by the government to regulate the space in the past have been sincere. If anything, those efforts have been driven by the need to regulate how much of a tool for holding government to account that social media is.
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While social media has been transformational thus far, Nigerians must also recognize the need to regulate what is at once a bounteous harvest and a bombshell.
Agents of mischief whose ultimate aim is the destabilization of society and government abound on social media. Discretion is the better part of valour and in a space as numerous as space itself in the words of Emily Dickinson, prudence is a prize as well as the podium. It is also the price users should pay for the infinite possibilities available there.
