Information minister Lai Mohammed has requested that Google shut down YouTube channel linked to proscribed separatist group, IPOB.
Mr Mohammed made the demand when a team of Google officials paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Thursday in Abuja.
The delegation led by Charles Murito, Google’s Regional Director for Government Affairs, said his organisation shared the sentiment of the Buhari regime on the abuse of social media by some groups.
Earlier, the minister had requested
channels and emails containing names of proscribed groups and their affiliates should not be allowed on Google platforms.
Channels such as Biafra Digest TV, Umu Biafra TV, Biafra Digest and Asa Biafra TV were cited for target.
Mr Mohammed said some of the channels use local languages and dialects during
their broadcast to evade being censored.
“Your platform is a platform of choice for IPOB, a proscribe terrorist group,” he said. “We implore you not to make your platform available to them for their acts of violence and destabilisation.”
Mr Mohammed stressed, “We hope you will cooperate with us as well as our security agencies in this direction.”
He expressed the commitment of the government to work with Google, other social media platforms, civil society, lawyers, media practitioners to ensure a responsible use of the Internet.
“We share thesame sentiment and we do not want our platforms to be used for wrong purposes,” Mr Murito said in his response.
“Provide us with the list of the channels, we will work with you to ensure that they will no longer be of nuisance to you.”
The Google chief also told the minister to give the contacts of those who can liase with them in the ministry for flagging of unwholesome contents noticed on their platforms.
(NAN)
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