On 4 June 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria released a statement saying it has “suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging a

iAfrikan Daily Brief #167: #TwitterBan 📵

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2021-06-07 12:00:13

On 4 June 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria released a statement saying it has “suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.” This was about two days after President Muhammadu Buhari had a tweet deleted by Twitter because it was said to be inciting violence, in violation of Twitter’s content policy.

As such, Nigeria’s government retaliated by “banning” Twitter (although people using VPN services can still access Twitter) because of the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

This is not the first time that Twitter has deleted a President’s tweets or even suspended one. In January 2021, Twitter first started by flagging President Donald Trump’s tweets indicating they are false or unsupported by facts. This was followed by the platform deleting some of Trump’s tweets as they have done with President Buhari, and then they would eventually suspend him from using Twitter.

It is not my purpose to debate the moral, ethical, and legal merits of President Buhari’s tweet. There are better people positioned to talk about that. However, I will make it clear that inciting violence and discrimination is wrong.