The immediate past Minister of Information and National Orientation under the previous administration of the Former president GN Mohamadu Buhari GCON, Alhaji Lai Mohammed seek regulations for social media through a lawful reformation of the digital medium in checking fake news.
Speaking at the 90th birthday commemoration ceremony of the elder state man Prof, Wole Soyinka, in Lagos the ex-minister recounted his battle with fake news circulated on social media that almost destroyed his age-long marriage.
In a presentation made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, titled “The Media in the Age of Disinformation.”
Mohammed who now serves as the Managing Partner of Bruit Costard, a lobbyist and public relations firm, expressed his major significant challenges faced while in office as the minister of Information the quick spread of misinformation, fake news, and disinformation.
He lament how he almost lost his marriage due to the extensive consequences of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation.
Mohammed publicly shared how social media threatened the foundation of his 40-year-old marriage.
Recall that Lia Mohammed was one of those accused of having large sums of money overseas, he expressed his grief saying that his wife fully believed the false story.
He added: “My wife insisted that the whole world believed the story and that her friends had, as a result, besieged her with all kinds of requests.
“She said every effort on her part to deny the existence of this foreign account only succeeded in depicting her in the minds of her friends as a selfish, greedy, and uncaring friend.
“Is my wife truly convinced of my innocence? The answer is in the wind! “
Mohammed reiterated that social media remained the platforms of choice for the purveyors of fake news, anti-state groups, anarchists, secessionists, terrorists, and bandits.
Lastly, Mohammed advocates for the quick implementation of hube regulatory frameworks to curb and monitor the rapid reach of false information with the preservation of freedom of expression. This will mandate Social media platforms and other collaborators accountable for the amplification of misinformation.
He urged social media platforms to prioritize the integrity of information above profit motives. Mohammed emphasized the importance of taking proactive measures to detect and remove harmful content from their platforms.
