All social media, online broadcast platforms must register with NBC — Buhari government
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has asked all social media platforms to apply for operating licence.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms will be deemed illegal entities if they do not obey the order.
The directive also applies to all online broadcasting service providers operating in Nigeria.
NBC director-general Armstrong Idachaba gave the directive in a newspaper advertorial on Thursday.
Idachaba said the NBC establishment code empowers the commission to ask the companies to be licensed.
“Note that any online broadcast service provider that fails to obtain a licence will be considered an illegal entity,” the advertorial read.
It is not immediately clear whether the directive applies strictly to only broadcast organisations or not.
The NBC order comes after the Muhammadu Buhari government banned social media platform Twitter.
Following the ban, the government also said that all social media platforms must register as a Nigerian company for them “to do business in Nigeria.”
The current clampdown the online space began after Twitter took down a tweet by Buhari, after stating that the message violated its policy against threatening others with violence.
