The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said Facebook has concluded plans to partner with the Federal Government on its National Campaign Against Fake News to check the menace.
The minister announced the planned cooperation in Abuja on Tuesday when he visited Daar Communications, owners of AIT and Raypower, in furtherance of the campaign.
He said the national campaign, which was launched on July 11, 2018, has succeeded in bringing the phenomenon to the front burner of national discourse.
Alhaji Mohammed said FG is not under any illusion that the campaign will immediately end the menace of fake news but stressed that the creation of the national campaign puts the issue of fake news on the front burner.
“Fake news is now a subject of national discourse, workshops and conferences. In the coming days, the social networking web platform, Facebook, will be meeting with us and other top policy makers across the country in the days ahead to see how to assist us in fighting fake news. That, to us, is a major step forward, and we thank all our partners, and indeed all Nigerians, for this achievement,” he said.
The minister, who described fake news as a global phenomenon, said different countries are adopting various measures to tackle the menace.
He added that Nigeria has decided to appeal to the sense of responsibility of media practitioners, bloggers and Social Media Influencers, instead of engaging in coercion or censorship.
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