Cyberbullying: Why Internet Trolling Could Land You in Jail
With a rapidly evolving digital economy valued at $100 billion, many Nigerians leverage social media to grow their businesses. To provide context on how businesses thrive in online spaces, during the seven months when the Nigerian government banned Twitter (now X) in 2021, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) estimated that the nation lost N10.72 trillion ($26.1 billion) as a result of the restriction.
While the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the ICT sector, a section of the digital economy, contributed 18.44% to Nigeria’s GDP in Q2 2022, there is growing concern about cyberbullying on social media.
According to a 2019 research study by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one in three young people in Nigeria between the ages of 13 and 24 has experienced online bullying. For instance, on March 31, 2023, popular relationship blogger Blessing Okoro, known as Blessing CEO, was remanded in prison by a Federal High Court in Lagos over allegations of cyberbullying against one Folashade Samuel.
Cyberbullying, which includes name-calling, insults, hateful attacks, and threats, appears to have been on the rise, particularly on X, following the 2023 elections. Supporters of the three major political parties in Nigeria, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling All Progressive Party (APC), and the Labour Party (LP), frequently engage in attacks on each other. Nonetheless, many who engage in these acts may not be aware of the consequences of cyberbullying.
According to Section 2 of the Cybercrime Act of 2015, any person who knowingly or intentionally bullies through the internet or a computer system “threatens or harasses another person, is guilty of cyberbullying.”
While threats and harassment, which carry a penalty of at least 10 years in prison or a fine of N25 million, might be seen as extreme forms of cyberbullying or stalking, engaging in unnecessary online nuisance from insults to hateful incitement carries weighty consequences.
Section 24 (b) of the Cybercrime Act states:
“Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill-will, or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent, commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7 million or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
Although online bullies perpetuate their activities from their living rooms through their laptops, phones, and tablets, the harm they inflict on their victims can sometimes be disastrous.
According to the UNICEF, victims of cyberbullying can experience physical pains such as stomach aches, headaches, disturbed sleep, mental and emotional distress.
