Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture has expressed concerns regarding the peddling of fake news on the Nigerian social media space.
Lai has said that fake news on social media has become a cancer and that if this menace is not curbed it will lead to Nigeria’s peril.
According to him, the ‘next world war’ will be caused by fake news if actions are not taken to prevent it. He revealed that the government is setting up a high-powered committee that will ensure that social media is made responsible.
The Minister however added that the the Federal Government is not trying to suppress social media. While speaking on Channels Television on Monday night, he stressed that one of the reasons why the #EndSARS protests escalated was because of fake news and the Twitter platform was a huge player in this.
“The mix of fake news using social media platforms has now become a cancer that if the world does not take time, it will destroy the world, the next war will be caused by fake news,
“If we do not take the issue of fake news, social media seriously, it will be at our own peril,”
“The government is setting up a high-powered committee to see how we can make social media more responsible,
“And I want to say this clearly, nobody has the intention of stifling the media.”.
“It was fake news. Unfortunately, the major players like Twitter and co were supporting this,” he said.
See video below;
Fake news using social media has now turned to cancer, says Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
– Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed #NewsNight#CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/QhfXkI6Axl
— Channels Television (@channelstv) February 22, 2021
