Nigeria Senate advances social media office bill

The Nigeria — Senate of Nigeria has advanced a bill to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko, which would compel social media platforms and technology companies operating in Nigeria to establish physical offices in the country. The bill passed a public hearing on July 23, 2026, with broad stakeholder support, including from Senate President Godswill Akpabio. The bill also empowers the Ghana — Data Protection Commission (Ghana) (NDPC) to shut down non-compliant entities after 30 days. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has strongly opposed the bill, calling it a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and threatening legal action. SERAP argues the bill violates constitutional rights and could lead to platform bans similar to the 2021 Twitter suspension condemned by the ECOWAS Court. The bill is now under committee review.