SERAP Demands Withdrawal of Senate Bill Targeting Bloggers, Warns of Threat to Free Speech

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to immediately withdraw a controversial bill seeking to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

The amendment proposes sweeping regulations on bloggers and social media platforms operating within Nigeria, a move SERAP describes as “repressive” and a “backdoor attempt to reintroduce the rejected social media bill.”

In a letter dated April 12, 2025, and signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the rights group expressed deep concern over the bill titled “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters.”

The bill, which has already passed its first and second readings in the Senate, mandates bloggers to register physical offices in Nigeria and affiliate with a recognized national association.

It also gives the government power to shut down social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, and TikTok—if they fail to comply within 30 days.

SERAP condemned the proposal, saying it could have a “chilling effect on free expression, lead to censorship, restrict access to information, and potentially force international tech companies out of Nigeria.”

“This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the backdoor,” SERAP stated.

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The organization warned that the legislation, if passed and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, would be challenged in court. SERAP noted that the bill threatens press freedom, targets dissent, and undermines Nigeria’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.

It further argued that the bill violates the right to freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information regardless of frontiers, as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and various global human rights treaties.

“Blogging plays an invaluable role in the free flow of information. Bloggers should never be required to register with the government or any agency to express themselves,” the letter emphasized.

SERAP also raised alarms that the bill could be used as a tool to intimidate independent journalists and activists and compel bloggers to reveal confidential sources—jeopardizing whistleblower protection and investigative journalism.

The group urged the National Assembly to promote laws that protect, rather than restrict, the rights of Nigerians online and ensure a democratic digital environment.

“Mandatory regulation of journalism is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. Lawmakers must not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain,” the organization asserted.

SERAP concluded by warning that the bill, if allowed to pass, would set a dangerous precedent for democracy, stifle civic space, and embolden authoritarian control over digital media in Nigeria.