Regulation of Social Media Interface

Abstract

The advent of information – communication – technology (ICT) brought the invention of new technologies that made available platforms enabling people to communicate and share information in real-time between cities, countries, and even continents. What used to be “a static pool of information to be called up by people who use it has evolved more specifically into a bi-directional communication tool in which creativity and opportunities are limitless. This trend is spearheaded by a young, trained, and innovative generation who are no longer content to communicate through e-mails and phone text, but view the internet as part of their everyday life, no longer a high-end technology”. The platform referred to is the Social Media. The social media can be defined as “a set of online technologies sites and practices which are used to share opinions, experiences, and perspective”. As a result of the rampant abuse of the social media, there have been calls by individuals and government personalities for the regulation of the platform. These calls in turn have resulted in vehement and vocal disapproval by social media users who feel that their right to freedom of expression is sought to be tightened by the government. The paper employing to a large extent, secondary sources seeks to address the issue of social media regulation, answering the following questions: what type of regulation is required? Can the social media be regulated? What are the implications of such regulation? And is regulation necessary? The paper amongst others found that there was no consensus as to what should be defined as regulation; that establishments and multi-corporations have decided not to leave the matter of social media regulation to fate but to self-implement what is known as the Social Media Policy amongst its employees. The paper recommends that Nigeria could borrow a leaf from the EU and perhaps adopt the EU Data Protection Regulation to regulate social media in Nigeria.