The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made this assertion on Friday when he featured on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ which was monitored by Africa Daily News, New York.
Recall that the Federal Government recently suspended operations of Twitter and directed that all OTT and social media platforms operating in the country must register with Corporate Affairs Commission.
The Federal Government maintained that they must also apply for licensing with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to stand a chance of being allowed access to the Nigerian internet space.
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It is imperative to understand that OTT media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the internet.
The minister said if the platforms were registered and issued with licenses, their operations would be regulated within the terms of their registrations.
He said it was unfortunate that most of the OTT and social media had no offices in Nigeria where they operated and made billions of dollars without paying any tax.
Mohammed said the advent of social media platforms took the world by storm that many countries did not know whether they were operating as commercial communication or information tools.
He said many countries had now woken up to the reality and had commenced regulating the platforms and Nigeria would not be an exception.
‘Singapore regulates the social media, Australia has done so, even EU that does not have particular laws on social media has made recommendations in a white paper.
‘The EU says that social media platforms that publish content that are harmful to the security of a nation or make such impressionable move, such content should be removed,’ he added.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
