Many Nigerians have become cyber-creatures and are spending a huge amount of time online especially on social media platforms with many having more than one handle. And as the digital world expands, so also is cybercrime, especially bullying, leading to the enactment of cyber laws especially the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2015. YEJIDE GBENGA- OGUNDARE in this piece, explores the provisions of the Act and why freedom of speech is guaranteed, whereas freedom after defamatory speech might be a mirage.
There is this belief among the people, especially youths in Nigeria, that social media is not real world because people actually operate in a way they normally may not; flaunt wealth they don’t have, say what they don’t know as facts and speak negatively and in defamatory manner against people who ordinarily, they can’t dare in real life while hiding behind their keypads. However, in reality and legally, social media is real as whatever you do on that space may have grave consequences; posts on social media have real life implications which may include law suit and jail term.
And this is legally provided for under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2015 which is a law that criminalises certain acts that are committed online because it made provisions for a whole range of online activities.
While many erroneously think the Cybercrimes Act 2015 is mainly on social media usage and activities, it governs the use of digital and information technology holistically though, it has core provisions that border on conduct on social media and several persons have faced penalties under this Act for breaking these provisions.
The Cybercrime Act is a criminal law and, as a result, failure to comply with it gives rise to penalties that range from fines to life imprisonment. It is a shield over cyberspace that is expected to prevent cybercrime from occurring.
Cyber Law is a new aspect of the legal system which evolved due to the rapid advancement of internet technology based on the premise that people who use the internet must have legal safeguards under cyber law. It simply refers to a legal framework for dealing with cybercrime.
Cybersecurity laws vary from country to country and jurisdiction to jurisdiction and penalties depend on the nature of offence, ranging from a fine to imprisonment.
Speaking on the need to have a cyber law, a legal practitioner, Obi Collins said, “Because our society is evolving towards an information society where communication occurs in cyberspace, cybercrime is now a global phenomenon. Cybercrime has the potential to significantly influence our lives, society, and economy and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015 has a significant impact on cyber law in Nigeria. This Act creates a comprehensive legal, regulatory, and institutional framework in Nigeria to prohibit, prevent, detect, prosecute, and punish cybercrime. The Act also encourages cybersecurity and protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programmes, intellectual property, and privacy rights, as well as the protection of important national information infrastructure.”
Types of cybercrime
There are different categories of cybercrimes in Nigeria; cybercrimes against people which include cyber harassment and stalking, e-mail phishing, the dissemination of child pornography, various sorts of spoofing, credit card fraud, human trafficking, identity theft, and online connected libel or slander; cybercrime against all types of property in terms of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, hacking, virus transmission, cyber and typosquatting, computer vandalism, copyright infringement, and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) breaches are examples of these crimes and cybercrime against the government which is considered an attack on the sovereignty of a nation and an act of war. Hacking, gaining access to confidential information, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, and the use of pirated software are all examples of cybercrime against the government.
One of the most serious cybercrimes against persons is the trafficking, distribution, publishing, and dissemination of obscene material, such as pornography and indecent exposure. The potential harm to humanity from such a crime cannot be overstated. If not managed, this is one cybercrime that threatens to impair the progress of the younger generation as well as leave irreparable scars and injuries.
It has been established that the expansion of the internet has revealed that the channel of cyberspace is being used by people and groups to threaten foreign governments as well as intimidate a country’s citizens. When an individual hacks into a government or military-run website, the offense becomes terrorism.
Social media crimes in Cybercrimes Act 2015
While the Cybercrimes Act 2015 makes a lot of provisions, some are directly in relation to social media usage. For all users, it is important to know the laws that regulate online interactions to avoid breach.
Section 24 (1) of the Act talks about cyberstalking which includes sending offensive pornographic or indecent messages to another person against their will and knowingly posting false statements in order to annoy, insult, intimidate another person or for other similar reasons. This carries a penalty of a fine of not more than N7,000,000 or three years imprisonment or both, as the case may be.
Section 24 (2) makes provisions for cyber bullying which covers acts like bullying, threatening or harassing another person in order to cause him/her to be in fear of death, violence or grievous bodily harm, threatening to kidnap a person or his loved ones as well as threatening to harm the property or reputation of another person and it has the penalty of three to 10 years imprisonment and or a minimum fine of N10,000,000 to N25,000,000.
Section 23 (1) of the Act makes provisions on child pornography which involves posting materials that visually depict a minor engaging in sexual conduct in the following forms; producing child pornography; offering or making available child pornography; distributing or transmitting child pornography; procuring child pornography for oneself or for another person and possessing child pornography in a computer system or on a computer data storage medium.
Section 22 (3) focuses on identity theft which is the act of intentionally impersonating another person whether alive or dead via social media, to gain an advantage, whether monetary or not, is a criminal offense punishable with a maximum of five years imprisonment and/or a fine of not exceeding N7,000,000.
Section 26 talks about hate speech which seems a major challenge on the Nigerian social media circuit. It is a criminal offence to post materials that are racist, xenophobic materials or that justify genocide or crimes against humanity. The penalty is a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years and/or a fine of not less than N10,000,000.
More common is phishing and spamming which is the focus of Section 32. Phishing refers to fraudulent mails, text messages and direct messages that appear to come from a legitimate source but are sent with an intention to retrieve sensitive data or login information from a person usually in order to steal his/her money while spamming on the other hand is sending multiple unsolicited messages to large numbers of people which could be with the intention of phishing. Both acts are considered cybercrimes. Phishing attracts a penalty of three years imprisonment and/or a fine of N1,000,000 while spamming when done with an intention to disrupt the operations of a person’s computer, has the same penalty of three years imprisonment and/or a fine of N1,000,000.
According to a legal practitioner, Toju Phillips, “It is easy for anyone to commit a crime when on social media especially if you are an individual that likes jumping on trends, temperamental and lacks accommodating spirit especially of contrary views. It is indeed a slippery terrain for everyone, so I advise people to fact check information before you post or repost it because reposting can also get you in trouble; and watch the words you use on others.”
Crimes under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015
Crimes under the Act are many; hacking computer systems and data alteration, unauthorised access of protected systems, illegal registration of cybercafé or usage of unregistered cybercafé, system interference, interception of electronic messages, email, electronic money transfers, tampering with critical infrastructure, willful misdirection of electronic messages, unlawful interceptions, computer related forgery, computer related fraud, theft of electronic devices, unauthorised modification of computer systems, network data and system interference, publishing false digital signature and certificates and cyber terrorism
Others include exceptions to financial institutions posting and authorised options, fraudulent issuance of e-instructions, tampering with computer source documents, identity theft and impersonation, child pornography and related offences, racist and xenophobic offences, attempt, conspiracy, aiding and abetting importation and fabrication of e-tools, breach of confidentiality and privacy, manipulation of ATM/POS terminals,phishing, spamming, spreading of computer virus, electronic cards related fraud and use of fraudulent device or attached e-mails and websites among others.
Under the 2015 Cybercrimes Act, the National Security Adviser’s office serves as the coordinating body for the security and enforcement authorities. The Attorney-General of the Federation reinforces and improves Nigeria’s existing legal frameworks regarding cybercrimes.
Easy offences to commit on social media
According to legal practitioners, there are some offences that are easy to commit on social media. Tito Aikomo listed some of the offences to include copyright, defamation and stalking, freedom of expression abuse, trade secrets and many more, adding that “the internet has made it easier to violate intellectual property rights with just a click on a file-sharing website and while using the internet to express themselves, people spread false information which can cross the line into defamation. Defamation laws are civil laws that protect individuals from false public remarks that can harm a company’s or an individual’s reputation. When people use the internet to express statements that contravene civil laws, this is considered cyber law.
“And while Freedom of Expression is an important aspect of cyber law, cyber laws restrict certain online acts, freedom of speech rule allows people to express themselves but there are boundaries of free expression, especially laws prohibiting obscenity.
A law firm, Templarslaw.com in an article titled, ‘The Reach and Impacts of the Cybercrime Act, 2015 on providers of ICT services‘ expressed this view on the importance of the Act, “In our view, the Act is a welcome instance of legislative response to the dynamic and progressive nature of the human society and the ubiquity of modern day technology. It is a well thought out reaction to the rising tide of cybercrimes in Nigeria, as well as some conducts occurring outside of Nigeria in-so-far as such conducts have some level of connection, no matter how slight, with Nigeria. Although there is as yet a dearth of reported cases of successful enforcements or completed prosecutions for offences under the Act, it is hoped that the enforcement of the Act would make the cyberspace more secure and at the same time limit potential cyber-related impediments to the ease of doing business in Nigeria. As has been shown from this expose, the enactment of the Act has increased compliance risks on the part of ICT service providers, hence the need for ICT service providers to not only get familiar with their obligations and potential exposures under the Act to ensure they are in compliance at all times but also for raising the stakes for businesses within the crosshairs of the law by setting up policies and processes to address such risks.”
The knowledge of the Cybercrimes Act will save a lot of people from preventable legal issues. No one can afford to be careless on social media anymore because people are now standing up to enforce their rights from toxic social media users. Indeed, there are repercussions offline, in real life, for activities on social media and people must be careful not to go to jail from unruly actions on social media.
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