The bill proposing amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to require social media platforms to establish physical offices within the country on Tuesday has passed second reading in the Senate.
Leading the debate on the bill, the sponsor, Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta, APC), said multinational social media corporations such as Facebook, X, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat do not have physical offices in Nigeria, unlike in other climes.
Senator Nwoko said there were several challenges resulting from the absence of social media offices in Nigeria, such as limited local representation; economic losses as well as challenges in legal and Data Protection Compliance.
The bill wants new regulations for bloggers operating in Nigeria as it mandates that all bloggers must establish a verifiable office in any of the capital cities across the country.
It also proposed that social media owners should maintain proper employee records and belong to a recognised national association of bloggers, with headquarters in Abuja.
Senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the session referred it to the Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security to report back in two months after a debate by the senators.
