NBC engages Google, TikTok in bid to regulate social media

The National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC) on Friday said there are ongoing discussions with prominent social media platforms such as Google and TikTok to address the misconduct of their users.

The Director of Broadcast Monitoring at NBC, Francisca Aiyetan, in an interview with newsmen said the commission is intended to regulate social media because without regulation, social media might mislead young people.

“Every country is making efforts to regulate social media, and Nigeria also is making efforts because we know that there are a lot of things to harness from it. But if not regulated, it can also be a platform that will misguide our young people.

“The level we are now is discussing with stakeholders so to agree that, yes, we need to regulate social media and at that level, there should be legislation; there should be strengthening of the law to factor in all the things that are new on the broadcasting and content sharing space.
“And then, when you have the power and the enablement by law to do such things, then we can now look at, do we have the way to do it technology-wise?

“Nevertheless, presently what we do is that we engage the platform owners as a regulator, we engage Google YouTube, and TikTok, so we know the faces behind these platforms.”