Presidency Set To Fight Fake News Off Social Media

Presidency set to fight fake news off social media


The special adviser to Mr president on Digital Media, Tolu Ogunlesi on Wednesday revealed that the federal government is working on a social media policy which will be ready before the first half of this year is over.

He stated this on the second day of the Social Media Week in Lagos, during an interactive session moderated by the Editor of The Scoop, Stanley Azuakola.

Ogunlesi admitted that government was still catching up with social media and its intricacies, but made it clear that people needed to be educated on the consequences of posting false news online.


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He also said that self regulation among journalists, bloggers and owners of social media platforms, would go a long way to curbing the spread of fake news.

“Facebook and Google need to penalize people that publish fake
news,” Ogunlesi said.

Ogunlesi said that the regulatory laws on hate speech and libel needed to be modified, to suit the rapidly changing social and digital media space of this new age, while admitting that government was still catching up with social media and its intricacies.