The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday, explained why the Federal Government would go ahead with the regulation of social media in Nigeria.
Mohammed, who spoke at an interactive session on the sideline of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, said social media spread fake news.
He stressed that the government’s quest for regulation of the platforms was to prevent another global war.
The minister said: “With fake news today and misinformation — I have always said here that the next world war will be caused by fake news.”
He stressed that Nigerians had deserted the old means of disseminating information by embracing social media.
Mohammed added: “Information is not what it used to be. For example, 20 to 30 years ago if the state or federal government had a television or radio and probably a newspaper, that was what we needed.
.“The people today, they don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch television — it’s social media. And it is the most expensive; the most unseen enemy. They are there every moment, and until we go to the same battlefield with them, there is nothing the government will do that will seem right.”