2023: Social Media Platforms Will Check Fake News — Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Culture and Information, Lai Mohammed has disclosed that social media platforms, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook will address fake news and misinformation ahead of the 2023 elections.

Mohammed gave the update in his welcome address at the 12th edition of the ‘PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023)’ on Wednesday.

He emphasized that fake news and disinformation constitute a clear and present danger to the success of the 2023 polls, just like violence, insecurity, vote buying, and attack on INEC facilities, among others.

“In this regard, I want to acknowledge the announcement by Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, that it will take clearly-outlined steps to protect the integrity of the forthcoming elections.

“Specifically, Meta detailed the actions it plans to take to combat disinformation and to make political advertising more
transparent.

"The company committed to these actions before, during and after the elections", the minister said.

Mohammed further expressed hope that Meta would live up to its promise while calling on other platform owners like Google (owners of YouTube and others), ByteDance (owners of TikTok), Twitter and the Telegram Group Inc. (owners of Telegram messenger) to emulate Meta by taking positive steps to prevent the spread of fake news, disinformation and hate speech via their platforms ahead, during and after the 2023 elections.