Social media isn't a real place ????

Dear friends

This is my second legal love letter to you

My legal love letter to you today gladens my heart

Read it with rapt attention

I want to show you something that I recently discovered

People usually use the phrase social media isn't a real place, it portrays what people are not, it projects a person's life to be perfect. This idea in this context is valid, but in the legal perspectives it is invalid. Social media is a real place, this is because the things we post, repost, do or comment have a real life implications.

Grace why are you telling me this, it's because ignorance of the law isn't an excuse.

But before I show you, let me give you an update.

Last week, I was watching a post that was made by a family channel on YouTube.

I've watched some videos from that family YouTube channel, only to get to the next video, and the caption of the video reads as follows????

The line reads,

help us report this channel **** to YouTube, they're reposting my family's pictures/videos claiming it to be theirs without seeking any form of consent from us.

You might be wondering, eeh how does this relates to me? I don't post videos on YouTube, oh yes, you don't. But you use the social media everyday.

As much as I would love to tell you everything about the family's experience, I would want us to move into the main gist of today.

Straight to the main gist of today

If you need any convictions that social media is a real place, then look no further... In this flight we will discuss the cybercrimes(prohibition, prevention, etc) Act 2015, which is the law that criminalises certain acts that are committed in the social media.

The Act is not specific to social media use alone. It also governs the use of digital and information technology, however there are core provisions of the Act that bother on conducts, on social media and several persons have faced penalties under this Act for breaking these provisions.

The things I want you to note is below ??

They're certain provisions of this Act that contains social media crimes.

The chief magistrate court in wuse zone 2 had issued a summons for five individuals over allegations of criminal defamation against gospel singer Mercy Chinwo and her husband, pastor Blessed.

In the suit, pastor Blessed accused the defendants of spreading injurious falsehood and engaging in cyberstalking.? The legal representatives of the mercy chinwo and husband have stated that the actions of the defendants amounted to cyber intimidation and have criminally injured the reputation and image of the complaints.

So you see, What started off as a mere comment on a post has now led the five commenters to court.

In as much as we would want to catch cruise and comment hurtful things on people's post, it's important that we're mindful of the things that we do or say on the social media app to avoid breaching any of the laws regulating it.

Before this flight starts, let's dive into those sections of the cybercrimes (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act 2015 that provides for social media crimes.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY- Section 23 (1)

Child pornography refers to any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. This offense can take various forms, namely: Producing child pornography; Offering or making available child pornography; Distributing or transmitting child pornography; Procuring child pornography for oneself or for another person; Possessing child pornography in a computer system or on a computer data storage medium.

Any person caught committing this offence, shall be liable on conviction.

CYBER-STALKING- Section 24 (1)

Cyberstalking includes: Sending offensive pornographic, indecent, obscene , menacing messages to another person against their will. Knowingly posting false statements in order to annoy, insult, criminal intimidation, hatred, or causing needless anxiety to another person or for other similar reasons. The penalty for this offense is a fine of not more than N7,000,000 or three years imprisonment or both, as the case may be.

CYBER-BULLYING- Section 24 (2)

As the name implies, this refers to: 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/her loved ones. Threatening to harm the property or reputation of another person. The penalty for the offences range from 3-10 imprisonment and/or a minimum fine of N15,000,000 - N25,000,000.

HATE SPEECH- Section 26

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 5 years and/or a fine of not less than N10,000,000.

Before the plane lands I want to leave you with this

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and a few minutes of cyber-incident to ruin it.” ― Stephane Nappo.

So dear friends be careful of the things you do, comment, repost or say online because it has a real life implications, that's is to say that social media is a real place.

Till I write to you again

Your supporter in this flight

Grace Ori