A CASE FOR REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATORS
By: Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos
The smartphone is the new printing press—only faster, louder, and far less restrained. In the palm of a hand, it gives anyone a global microphone, and with that, the power to inspire, inform, or inflame and even aflame. Platforms like TikTok, with 170 million U.S. users and over 27 million active content creators, have turned ordinary people into overnight celebrities, but in this boundless digital theatre, the script is often unwritten and the consequences unforeseen.
Yet this freedom has a dark underbelly. In Nigeria and beyond, some creators trample privacy and decency in pursuit of clicks. Platforms themselves reveal the scale of the problem. TikTok’s Q1 2025 report shows it removed 3.6 million Nigerian videos in just three months for violating community guidelines and even banned 42,196 live-stream rooms for similar breaches. These figures are startling: they indicate content going far beyond harmless fun into the realm of serious violation. When every clip can reach thousands instantly, even a tiny fraction of harmful posts can have an outsized impact on real lives.
The internet is replete with activities of creators who lure married women into staged “romantic” encounters with financial inducements and later publish the footage as pranks; influencers who offer money to vulnerable people to perform dangerous or humiliating acts and then post the clip; pranksters who verbally or sexually harass strangers on camera—groping, forcing, or encouraging removal of clothing for content—and then share the footage; streamers and vloggers who stage fake emergencies or place bystanders in danger for views, sometimes provoking mass panic or wasting emergency resources; those who engage in reckless “fidelity pranks” that destroy long-standing marriages; creators who make false emergency calls to generate drama; influencers who publish others’ private data (doxxing) to bait harassment; teenagers who parade half-naked online with dehumanizing behaviour; and countless other acts that violate both personal dignity and the law.
To be fair, the majority of creators are not predators. TikTok itself emphasizes that flagged content is “a tiny portion” of all uploads, amid “millions of positive, educational and entertaining videos” shared daily. Many young influencers use the platform for good—tutorials, humour, charity stunts, and more. One Nigerian TikToker explains that the app “allowed me to collaborate with brands… [and] broadened my perspective” through positive audience feedback. For countless youths, content creation is a lifeline: a creator who goes viral can earn real income and even secure employment, just as millions of Americans do. The creator economy is real, and it often uplifts communities during hard times.
So why does this mix of content often go unchecked? The answer lies partly in law enforcement—or the lack of it. Nigeria does have statutes such as the 2015 Cybercrimes Act and traditional public decency laws that in theory ban cyber-harassment, privacy invasion, and obscene acts. Yet few young creators know these rules, and prosecutions against influencers for online misconduct are virtually nonexistent. In practice, victims almost never see a case brought forward. When laws go unenforced, misconduct goes unpunished—bad actors feel emboldened while the rest of us are left frustrated. In that vacuum, people sometimes threaten to take matters into their own hands. What stops a mob from confronting an influencer who openly abuses someone on camera? Without clear boundaries, we risk reverting to a “rule-of-might” mentality far below the standards of a civilized society.
All of this shows that a firmer framework is overdue. The goal is not to muzzle creativity but to safeguard rights and dignity. Possible solutions include codes of ethics for creators, mandatory transparency (such as labelling sponsored posts), and clear penalties for harassment, defamation, or invasion of privacy. Indeed, even platforms are moving in this direction: TikTok’s own report underscores its priority of a “safe, respectful and trustworthy digital environment.” Government and industry must work together to make that ideal a reality across the board. In practice, this means educating young creators about digital rights and responsibilities and enforcing rules when they cross the line.
A stitch in time saves nine. It is better to set and apply effective frameworks now—complemented by strong, transparent monitoring—than to wait for the chaos to deepen. Such guardrails, if wisely crafted, will protect individuals, preserve public decency, and encourage a thriving creative economy where innovation flourishes without trampling the dignity and safety of others.
Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Uromi and a Lecturer at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
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