SERAP threatens legal action, urges NASS to withdraw social media bill

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the National Assembly to withdraw the proposed Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026, warning that it would challenge the legislation in court if passed in its current form.

 

The bill, sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North), seeks to require social media platforms, data controllers and data processors operating in Nigeria to establish physical offices in the country. It also empowers the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to suspend or prohibit the operations of entities that fail to comply within 30 days.

 

In a letter dated July 18 and addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, SERAP described the proposal as a “backdoor attempt” to regulate social media and expand government control over online expression.

 

The letter, signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, argued that compelling technology companies to establish local offices would expose them to political pressure and make censorship easier.

 

“Requirements compelling technology companies to establish local offices would increase government leverage over platforms, facilitate political pressure, make censorship demands easier and expose local employees to retaliation,” the organisation stated.

 

SERAP warned that the proposed amendment could give the NDPC excessive powers to shut down digital platforms without adequate legal safeguards.

 

“The Bill constitutes a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and increase governmental control over online expression through corporate localisation requirements rather than through transparent and constitutionally permissible regulation,” it said.

 

The organisation also argued that the legislation revives previous attempts to regulate social media that were widely opposed by Nigerians.

 

It maintained that if enacted, the bill could violate constitutional rights to freedom of expression and access to information, adding that it would immediately institute legal proceedings to challenge the law in the public interest.

 

SERAP cited the ECOWAS Court of Justice’s judgment against Nigeria’s suspension of Twitter, warning that the proposed legislation could produce similar restrictions by indirectly forcing digital platforms out of the Nigerian market.

 

The group further argued that mandatory localisation requirements would increase operating costs for technology companies, startups, educational institutions and artificial intelligence developers, while discouraging innovation and investment.

 

According to SERAP, no major democratic country requires every social media platform to maintain a physical office as a blanket condition for offering services.

 

The organisation called on the National Assembly to reject the bill, insisting it is incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.