Committee to Protect Journalists calls to revise Nigeria’s draft data protection legislation

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has joined a coalition of 100 global civil society groups to submit comments on Nigeria’s draft data protection bill, which is undergoing a public consultation process. The submission said that the bill should “protect those fulfilling their duty as journalists” from censorship under the law, and “define ‘data’ in such a way that ensures journalistic reporting, including on individuals, is explicitly protected.” In a statement, the CPJ argued that the draft bill would allow authorities to “ignore the law based on ‘national security’ interests,” expressing concern “given the prevalence of such rationale to restrict critical reporting and retaliate against journalists and media organizations.”