A former media aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, has stated that social media app, TikTok, is doing more harm than good for Nigeria without regulations.
This is after viral videos on the social app showed bandits flaunting cash purportedly collected as ransom for their victims have raised concerns.
A counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama, highlighted these videos in a series of posts on his X account.
However, Ahmad took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to argue that the freedom provided by the app is emboldening criminals to spread misinformation and propaganda.
He claimed that the platform, which is increasingly used by criminal elements to reach the public, needs stricter regulation by stakeholders.
“It is alarming that TikTok, a global social media platform, is being utilised by criminals such as bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists in Nigeria to interact with the public and, in some cases, even engage in live conversations defending their heinous activities.
“The platform is causing more harm than good to our country, as it not only amplifies the voices of these criminals but also emboldens them by providing a space to spread their propaganda and misinformation.
“Nigeria needs stricter regulations and content monitoring on TikTok to prevent these dangerous individuals from using it for their malicious agendas,” Ahmad said.
Recall that during Buhari’s tenure, the Federal Government banned the operations of the microblogging site Twitter, now X, in Nigeria for 222 days.
Twitter’s operations were suspended in June 2021, just days after the platform deleted a tweet by the former president, the ban was however lifted by midnight on January 13, 2022.
