Nigeria, Nov. 20 -- A bill to regulate the use of Social Media as well as curb fake news on the internet has passed the second reading at the Senate.

The bill, 'Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, 2019,' sponsored by Mohammed Musa was introduced in the Senate two weeks ago.

This comes a few years after a similar anti-social media bill introduced in the eight Senate, sparked outrage across the country.

The second stage of the new bill was passed after lawmakers debated details of the bill during plenary.

Leading the debate, Mr Musa said the bill does not intend to gag the media but to check the spread of false information on the internet.

He also prescribed up to N300,000 fine for an individual if found guilty; ...