There is no doubt that social media has created new spheres of interaction particularly in the way it has helped democratize the media landscape. Social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter have challenged the mainstream media oligarchy, with the result that narratives can no longer be controlled by hierarchies. The devolution of media power caused by social media has enabled minorities and hitherto voiceless groups to rise to the center of the political debate in recent years. This sentiment was echoed by the Facebook founder when he stated that social media networks have given a voice to groups that have been under-served, misrepresented, or suppressed by the traditional media establishment. The ubiquity of social media has enabled all forms of communication especially news information to travel at speeds unparalleled by the mainstream media. One further allure of social media is that unlike traditional media, it is not subject to much government regulations, and in most democracies, it is free of censorship.
The lack of censorship and bureaucratic regulations combined with mobilization potential is exactly what has made social media platforms attractive to activists. It can even be argued that social media has led to the proliferation of activists. For, it is much easier and more convenient and sometimes even more effective for activists to take to what has been described as “digital streets” to advance a cause. But a vast majority of socio-political movements in the last two decades have mainly used social media to generate initial public discussions on issues and then in the mass mobilization of willing participants. This implies that digital activism is readily transposed to the real world in the form of protests or as in the case of Tunisia and Egypt, revolutions, whose momentum is bolstered by social media. Although the degree to which social media plays a role in social movements is still debated in scholarly circles, it is not in doubt that social media can be a powerful tool in the hands of activists.
It is therefore not surprising that, considering the ubiquitous nature of social media in Nigeria, activists challenging police brutality and calling for the disbanding of the notorious SARS unit of the Nigerian police, utilized social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter to mobilize protesters. The protests that rocked Nigeria because of the EndSARS digital campaign is a testament to the power of social media. Little wonder the Buhari regime is hell-bent on clamping down on all those who participated in the EndSARS campaign, particularly those who “led” the protests on social media. But the Nigerian experience of a social media propelled socio-political movement must be situated within the broader context of digital activism comparable to those of Egypt, Spain, Canada, and the United States to which it bears a lot of resemblance
Just like activists of the Indignados movement in Spain besieged Puerta de Sol in Madrid, EndSARS activists in Nigeria occupied the Lekki Toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020. This is very similar to how Egyptian revolutionaries spent several nights at Tahir square, as well as the occupation of Zuccotti Park close to the New York Stock exchange by the Occupy Wall Street Movement in September of 2011. The various marches across Nigeria during the EndSARS campaign also bear resemblance to the so called “Indignant Marches” across various cities in Spain following the lifting of various protest camps. And just as the Occupy Wall Street movement was originally named with a twitter hashtag #occupy Wall Street, the protest against Police brutality in Nigeria also got its name from the twitter hashtag #EndSARS. These movements highlighted have as a common feature the use of social media platforms like twitter and Facebook to garner public support and mobilize participants.
The EndSARS movement in Nigeria can also be described as populist in the same sense as the Spanish Indignados and American Occupy Wall Street Movements, despite the latter agitations being anti-austerity movements in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. In the EndSARS movement in Nigeria, the hardworking, average man of contemporary populist movements was recast as the struggling Nigerian Youth who could fall victim of police brutality or even be hacked to death on unfounded accusations of being a cybercriminal. So, in typical populist fashion, the movement sought to unite the Nigerian Youth against the corrupt and violent Police institution. The vulnerable youth in the country in that sense became “the people” who needed to take on the corrupt establishment.
But the EndSARS, Indignados, and Occupy Wall Street Movements go further beyond a mere re-adaptation of the populist “common man”. These social movements sought to, according to Paolo Gerbaudo, transfigure the populist common man into the generic internet user. The broader significance of these movements being that anyone with access to the internet is predisposed to active political participation. Access to the internet and possession of social media accounts can become a “springboard to collective social mobilization”, Gerbaudo insists.
However, since social movements are confrontational; that is, they act to challenge the existing social and political order which in effect calls into question the legitimacy of the State, it is no surprise that governments have evolved different techniques to contain and even suppress dissident political movements. And, in the age of social media, States have exploited certain “vulnerabilities” of social media as a tool of mass mobilization. Because social media functionalities are designed to maximize profit, there exist certain features of social media platforms that conflict with interests of online activists which cannot be reconciled with the commercial interest of social media networks.
For instance, social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter do not give room for anonymity as such, as stipulated in their terms of service. Although there are certain mechanisms through which activists can maintain anonymity online, it has become particularly difficult when governments can coerce social media networks to part with users` information. Furthermore, States have passed legislations and developed highly intrusive surveillance mechanisms that are bent on stifling social media mobilization and online protests.
Israel is a good example of a country where bogus legislations have been passed which, using the broadest legal interpretation, criminalizes all forms of dissent on social media. The social media legislation prohibits the use of social media platforms to “incite” violence against individuals or the state. Framed in the context of national security, the law has been used to target Palestinian activists in Gaza and the West Bank.
Elsewhere in Canada, the famous Bill C-309 criminalizes the use of masks by protesters. The Canadian Parliament capitalized on the violence and destruction that erupted during the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots in 2011 to push the bill through. Some critics, however, have argued that the main purpose of the bill was to make the job of policing during protests easier, at the detriment of human rights and freedoms. Specifically, they point out that donning of masks is an effective method a protester could use to avoid identification by authorities especially when large amounts of data—pictures and videos—that emanate from protests are circulated and preserved on social media platforms. With the absence of masks, it becomes quite easy for security agencies to identify and track protest participants from data generated through social media
In Nigeria there has been growing calls for “social media regulation”, calls which reached fever pitch in the aftermath of the EndSARS protests which left so much destruction in its wake, prompting the government to declare that the demonstrations had plunged the nation`s economy into its present state of recession. There is no question that the protests took a violent turn after the alleged massacre of protesters who had occupied the Lekki toll gate by Nigerian soldiers in October 2020. Businesses were looted, shops were burned, sporadic clashes between protesters and law enforcement left scores dead. This is exactly the kind of crisis that authoritarian regimes would capitalize on to pass draconian laws or even dismiss human rights altogether.
Shortly after the dust settled on the EndSARS protests, there were reports that some of the “leading” figures of the online campaign had their bank accounts blocked. It was reported that the directive to block the accounts came from the Central Bank. The apex bank, it was gathered, had secretly obtained court orders allowing it to block certain accounts it deemed to be linked to “terrorist activities” in the country. Branding activists as terrorist and a threat to national security is almost always the first step States take in suppressing and criminalizing dissent. But Nigeria`s case is somewhat ironic because it has been locked in a seemingly endless battle with the Islamic terror group Boko haram for over a decade with hardly any report of the bank accounts of local sponsors being identified and blocked, despite a former president confirming that the insurgents have infiltrated the highest level of government.
The economic emasculation of social media activists might well be a tip of the iceberg when one considers the threatening statement made by the Inspector General of police, Muhammad Adamu, that “The protests were not against the police, but the Nigerian government. But the demands of the protesters were already met; yet, they went about destroying national assets, without remorse. The Nigerian Police will never again tolerate and accept that kind of violent protests in this country. Your protest must be peaceful and the moment it becomes violent, you will be met with maximum force.” Nothing in this statement indicates the police will distinguish between rioters and peaceful demonstrators in the use of “maximum force”. In effect, anyone who participates in a demonstration can be subjected to gross human right violations under the guise of containing a “violent” protest.
But the proposed “social media bill” being deliberated by lawmakers certainly dwarfs any effect economic strangulation and police brutality might have on future demonstrations in Nigeria. The bill stipulates the stiffest penalties for any form of dissent that is expressed on social media platforms. The lawmakers have argued that the bill was necessary to clamp down on misinformation on social media which they claimed triggered the EndSARS protests. One lawmaker even declared that the protests were sponsored by rival political parties and was geared towards regime change or outright dismemberment of the country. Hence, social media has got to be “regulated” or else the country might “cease to exist in 5 years”.
A cursory examination of the bill, however, can only leave one with the impression that the government is bent on monopolizing truth and suppressing dissent. According to the bill, a person must not transmit a statement that is “false” through social media. In addition, statements that might “affect the security of any part of Nigeria; affect public health, safety or finance; cause hatred towards persons or group of persons; influence the outcome of an election to any office in a general election” would constitute a violation punishable by three years imprisonment or fine or both. As Nigerians wait to see if the bill scales through, the Buhari regime seems to be toying with other ideas.
There have been reports that the recent scheme for mobile phone users across the country to synch their SIM cards with their National Identification Numbers was borne out of the frustration security agents encountered in tracking down “criminals “who had “terrorized” government officials with “threatening text messages” during the EndSARS protests. One is not entirely sure what the overall aim of the scheme might be but considering the short deadline, and the threat of complete disconnection from mobile services, it is quite likely that the scheme brings the Buhari regime one step closer in its clampdown on digital activists.
Even though the steps taken by the Buhari administration in clamping down on digital activism mirrors those of some first world nations, the totalitarian posture of this government should be a source of grave concern to all Nigerians whose civil liberties might be sacrificed on the altar of policing online revolt in the aftermath of the EndSARS protest. The greater concern, however, should be whether the events of the 2020 EndSARS protest will altogether deprive Nigerians of the right to protest in the future.