EndSARS Protests, Social Media and Public Opinion

Abstract

Prior to the digital age in Nigeria, it was relatively easy to protect the sanctity of journalism and information dissemination to forestall unintended consequences. With the proliferation of the cell phone in the early 1980s and the internet in the mid-1990s, however, information dissemination became an all-comers’ game and everyone that owns a phone can use it effectively on the internet as information merchant. The advantage of this development is that information sharing is democratised and the freedom to publish anything is now in the hands of digital content creators. On the flip side, however, it offers the opportunity to peddle falsehood, share fake news and hate speech with the intended and unintended harmful impact on peaceful co-existence, unity of the nation and the essence of democracy itself. This paper, through the review of literature, examines the implications of the widening incursion of every Tom, Dick and Harry into the information space as exemplified in the consequences of the reportage of the 2020 endSARS protests across the nation. Hinged on Technological Determinism theory, the paper concludes that indiscriminate posting of information by all and sundry on the internet portends danger for the society far more than whatever its worth.