•Lawmakers, govt functionaries prescribe way forward
Regulating social media has continued to gain international attention in recent years. To put an end to the online threat to national security and its illegal activities through different platforms, IBRAHIM ADAM evaluates solutions from experts and stakeholders.
For years, terrorists have held Nigeria’s northern region by the jugular, maiming, killing, abducting and raping. Alongside this has come banditry, with pretty-much the same consequences, except that they make no pretences about their criminal intentions, demanding humongous ransom to free their captives.
Unlike Boko Haram, ISWAP or any other religious puritan group, the bandits do not hide under religion or any pretentious crusade to perpetuate their crimes.
In the South, the story is different only in the sense that the criminals have yet to summon the kind of boldness that’ll see them attack communities and kidnap people in numbers. But kidnapping reigns nevertheless and is on the rise.
Most painful is the fact that these criminals, aside coordinating and perpetrating their efforts using technology tools, especially the various social media, also use them to disseminate their terror message far and wide. This can be seen in the way Shekau, the leader of the dreaded Boko Haram group, following the kidnap of over 200 Chibok school girls in 2014, consistently used the social media to send messages to the federal government and parents of their captives. One will also recall the Abuja train kidnap two years ago, where the bandits perpetually sent images of how they tortured the captives to the world, threatening even to kill them if their demands were not met.
The irony is that Boko Haram, which claimed to be fighting Western civilisation, did not see anything wrong in using a Western tool to push their message.
There have also been several news of how terrorist groups use technology to monitor, counter or sometimes thwart military onslaughts.
Big concern
Terrorists exploiting social media have become one of the world’s biggest concerns. Domestic terrorist groups have a symbiotic relationship with international terrorist organisations, which worsens the situation. Notably, terrorist groups also use social media platforms to recruit, train, and communicate with their followers and contributors because it is less expensive, easier, faster, and effective.
Just as these social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have offered terrorist organisations new options, it has also created new challenges for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. While terrorist organisations’ use of online resources is not new, national intelligence services have shifted their focus to the growing threat of home-grown insecurity.
The November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks remain memorable for the wrong reason. The Islamic terrorist organisation from Pakistan, in a well-coordinated effort, struck more than ten targets in the densely populated Indian city. According to Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the most serious issues arising from the attacks was the terrorists’ technological competence. All of the attackers had BlackBerry smartphones and didn’t just use VOIP to communicate.
This inadvertently underlines the fact that the social media has a competitive advantage beyond political activism and business.
The adoption of the social media in Nigeria can be traced to the rise of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which began in the 1990s. According to Golub (2018), the first technological progress seed was placed on Nigerian soil in 1995, when UNESCO supported the Regional Informatics Networks for Africa (RINAF) project.
German online data platform, Statista, estimates that there are 31.6 million active social media users in Nigeria from 2017 to December 2023. WhatsApp is the most popular platform in the country, with about 95% of users while Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are Nigeria’s most popular social media networks.
Recall that the issue of social media regulation lingered throughout the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, with the then Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, consistently advocating for its regulation.
Things got to head in June 2021, when the Buhari-led federal government banned Twitter (now known as X), two days after the social media company deleted a tweet on the president’s account. The ban lingered for seven long months before it was lifted.
In October 2023, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) sent a bill for the regulation of social media to the National Assembly. The intention of the regulatory body was to abolish and re-enact the NBC Act, CAP L11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
While hosting the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the NBC Director-General, Balarabe Ilelah, referred to the social media as a ‘monster’.
Section 39 of the 1999 constitution provides that every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) then urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, “to reject the recently reintroduced Social Media Regulation Bill, which, if passed, would unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.”
Even before the dawn of the social media, there have been quite remarkable innovations in ICT, starting with the creation of the telegraph in 1792, the radio in 1891, the world’s first super computers in the 1940s, the lunch of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1991, Linkedin in 2002, Myspace in 2003, Facebook in 2004, Reddit in 2005, Youtube in 2005, 2go in 2007, Whatsapp in 2009, Instagram in 2010, Snapchat in 2015, etc – each, usually a step further from the preceding ones.
These inventions have gone on to impact the world today, the social media especially affecting every aspect of man’s existence and becoming an integral part of daily life. Social media can be used for a variety of purposes, including connecting with friends, assisting people in finding employment opportunities, assisting business owners in reaching and gaining a larger customer base, staying in touch with family members, keeping up with current events and happenings around the world, promoting knowledge sharing, and spreading information.
Aside from its positive uses, social networking has been known to have negative impact on society. Some of these negatives include distributing misleading information, supporting criminal actions, and facilitating the rapid spread of vices and delinquencies among juveniles. It is also addictive and can preoccupy a person, preventing him or her from attending to more essential matters.
Jocelyn Bolos Benter of Bulacan State University and Robino D. Cawi of the University of the Cordilleras stated in their 2021 study titled: “THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CATALYST TO INSURGENCY” that social media, particularly the internet, is becoming a catalyst for insurgency acts.
They claim that the internet facilitates the dissemination of extremist beliefs and propaganda, as well as the acquisition of terrorist skills such as how to manufacture bombs and other explosives.
“Recruitment and propaganda distribution through social media remains a security concern in the Province of Bulacan, particularly since it is locally driven and not easy to detect. Further, the continued existence of private networks of communication means that efforts to eradicate public expression of violent extremism will only have limited effect.
“The study aims to know the role of social media sites in terrorism in terms of recruitment and propaganda distribution by identifying the different social media platforms used, means to disseminate, techniques employed, and the initiatives of the local government to counter the online recruitment activities.
“Through social media platforms and advanced technologies, recruitment in insurgency is made easier.”
The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Police of Nigeria have used social media channels to disseminate information on bombarding, dislodging, and repelling terrorists’ attacks, destroying illegal crude oil refineries, and showcasing their accomplishments in apprehending criminals in every part of the country.
Social Influence Theory
Kelman’s social influence hypothesis, established in 1958, provides that: “an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and subsequent actions or behaviour are influenced by reverent others through three processes: Compliance, Identification, and Internalisation.”
Kelman believes that social influence causes varying degrees of change in attitudes and actions. Individual differences play a role in the various stages of transformation because people accept influence differently.
It has become a menace, says Gbajabiamila
President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, maintains that social media has become a societal threat that must be addressed.
“As citizens become more interested in governance, the government must ensure that engagement with citizens springs with shared agreement on what the truth is, what is real, and what is not. Social media has become a societal menace and must be regulated.
“Many people do not understand that once the send button is hit, there is a potential to reach millions of people around the world, which is capable of causing a great danger, not just in the society but even unintended consequences to the individuals that are receiving information which may include security of life.”
Ayade calls for strict regulation
In the same manners, former governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, has blamed social media for insecurity in the country and called for its strict regulation.
Ayade added that social media users have lost respect for values.
“If there is anything to regulate, it is the social media. In China, social media is regulated. Dissemination of falsehood must have its penalty. Social media is causing divisiveness in the country.
“The theme is very relevant. Freedom is not absolute anywhere on earth. False information threatens security. We won’t have the kind of peace we have now in the next 20 years if social media is allowed to continue this way.
“Social media is destroying our country, our values. Those who publish horrible pictures should go to jail. Animals are becoming more human while humans are becoming more animalistic,” he said and called for stricter broadcasting regulation in the country.”
Social media may worsen insecurity, says NASS clerk
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Amos Ojo, also expressed concern regarding the escalation of insecurity via the use of the social media, emphasising the need to enhance the country’s security architecture.
“Social media is having a field day feasting on such conflicts, especially the inter-agency rivalry, as have been witnessed between security personnel arising from the circulation of texts, pictures, and videos.
“It is our duty as citizens to support our security agencies and not to escalate situations through social media. These counter-productive challenges need our conterminous attention, or may worsen.”
Social Media has disconnected us from our neighbours
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Security expert, Smith Dibia, has blamed the ‘period of social media’ for people’s seeming failure to interact and get to know their neighbours.
This comes after some residents in Rumuekini, Rivers State, expressed shock after security personnel invaded their estate, detaining approximately five of their neighbours accused of kidnapping and freeing some supposed kidnap victims from their one-bedroom apartment.
Dibia explained that nowadays, people would rather communicate with persons outside the country than get to know their neighbours.
“Most times you see we spend time chatting with people abroad and outside here while leaving to chat with the next-door neighbour,” he stated.
Every military action scrutinised on social media
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Christopher Musa, claims that globalisation, international enmity, and social media are impeding Nigeria’s fight against insecurity.
Musa stated that the peculiarities surrounding the military’s actions in its efforts to restore peace and security in Nigeria were not the same as those observed during the ECOMOG era.
He said every action of the military is currently under scrutiny in the social media space and is frequently visible to the public, including insurgents.
He pointed out that the arrival of social media, without monitoring and regulation of bloggers and social media influencers, is affecting the Nigerian military’s response to security concerns.
“Consequently, members of civil society organisations and other activist groups levy unfounded allegations against the troops that serve as huge distractions. The consequences are that the troops are more careful in dealing with the insurgents.
“Some of the insurgents could form various right groups or become activists or social media influencers while they carry out activities against the Nigerian military. This was not the case during the ECOMOG operation period.”
General Officer Commanding 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Alabi, and Chief of Military Affairs of the Nigerian Army, Maj-Gen. NC Ugbo both indicated that the Nigerian Army recognises the importance of bloggers and social media influencers as credible partners in shaping the narrative to improve national security.
“The social media platform has reengineered social interaction among peers, businesses, governments, and so on. Social media platforms are used to advance social and national insecurity, such as the situation in the northern and south-eastern parts of Nigeria.
“Some groups use online media to propagate their agenda, and the general public also uses social media platforms to escalate this propaganda, which sometimes is fake news.
“The platform provided by the social media seminar has allowed the Nigerian Army to interact with influencers of the social and cyberspace on how to responsibly use the various assets to foster security and peaceful coexistence.”
How to curb the spread of fake images
Speaking on the dangers of false information, Kemi Busari, the Editor of fact-checking platform, Dubawa, recalled an event in Plateau State, where a photo spread on Facebook alongside a false claim heightened ethnic tensions and resulted in numerous deaths.
On that occasion, a graphic image of a mutilated baby, killed in Congo Brazzaville in 2012, was shared with the claim that the act was perpetrated by the Fulani against the Berom in Jos, in June 2018.
According to media reports, Berom youths took to the streets and seeking out Fulani men for reprisal attacks. This, in turn, spurred more attacks and many lives were lost.
“That’s to show how false photos could cause grave harm to any society,” he said.
Busari emphasised the importance of fact-checking in reducing the spread of false information.
“Fact-checking is very important in curbing this, especially when we think about the present security situation of the country. We have security challenges, ethnic issues, and elections are coming,” he explained.
Idayat Hassan, Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), added that there is a need to raise the awareness of fact-checking tools like TinEye and Wayback Machine, so that the average person may use them to verify the validity of images.
“Government response is often too slow. That is another challenge. There is a need for capacity-building programmes for law enforcement agencies to immediately identify fake pictures and respond to them before it reaches so many people.”
Battleground shifted to cyberspace
The brain behind the 2016 Global Award winner in Crisis Communication and expert in social media, Yushau Shuaib, remarked that the battleground has migrated from physical battles to cyberspace, with social media serving as a medium of engagement.
He said: “The military needs to train and equip social media warriors whose responsibility is to engage the audience with truthful, factual, and convincing arguments of operations towards the well-being and better-informed public.
“The enemies are hidden in their cocoon using the social media in recruiting volunteers, mobilising resources and attacking public consciousness, mostly through threats of violence and terrorism”.
“The military as an institution that can effectively counter terrorism should realise that conventional weapons have their limitations in psychological warfare. They should therefore explore the benefit of Social Media which is cost effective for engaging large audiences; providing adequate information; responding timely to enquiries; sharing educative media data and coordinating activities with different groups,” he said.
Shuaib added that the future of social media is already revealing itself in the current generation.
“The future is already here and now. Officers responsible for information management and communication should realise that an office is no more confined to a physical wall. We are in an age of mobile offices, working 24/7, streaming live videos in real-time to the satisfaction of our audiences.
“In the next few years, wearable gadgets will become the major tools while stiffer competition between the Media Houses and in-house PR teams will become prevalent, as each party competes for large followership on social media,”
While observing that some security agencies and officials have refused to embrace social media for primordial reasons, Shuaib urged them to change their mindset.
“It is baffling that some top officials take delight in discrediting social media and refuse to embrace the technology. Their reluctance and absence on social media only compels fraudsters to clone their identities on the platforms for nefarious activities
Recommendations
The United States Department of Justice summarised an NIJ-sponsored study titled: “The Role of Social Media in the Evolution of Al-Qaeda Inspired Terrorism,” when it stated that Jihadist terrorism activities in the United States are linked to a global terrorist movement that uses modern communication technologies, media, and a globalised social consciousness to promote its belief system and radicalise vulnerable people who have access to internet media.
The NIJ-sponsored study conducted an analysis that compared the network structure of American terrorism offenders inspired by Hezbollah, Sunni extremist groups aligned with Al Qaeda, and ISIL. Young men and women have joined the Islamic State in patterns similar to chain migration, following in the footsteps of others from their town or neighbourhood and bonding with friends or peers who nurture and reinforce their views.
Some recommendations for dealing with these influences include focusing on community education, establishing a duty to report, developing court-enforced treatment programs, disrupting and preventing the development of localized extremist hubs, monitoring cumulative influence networks, continuing to disrupt and intercept travel to foreign terrorist organizations, and suppressing producers rather than consumers of terrorist propaganda online.
