Amidst the growing discontent against Twitter, Nigeria became the first country to suspend the US-based micro-blogging website in the African continent. Accusing Twitter of double standards, the Nigerian government ceased operations of the social media platform after it froze President Muhammadu Buhari’s account. Notably, Twitter had months ago banned former US President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting violence during the unfortunate breach of Capitol Hill.
Making the announcement on Friday, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed condemned the ‘persistent use’ of Twitter for activities allegedly capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence. The stern action comes days after Twitter removed a post by Nigeria’s President that threatened punishment for separatists in the country’s southeast region that officials have blamed for frequent attacks on federal property.
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the field for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” the Nigerian President had tweeted which was later taken down. Alleging that Buhari’s aforementioned tweet violated the social media platform’s ‘abusive behaviour’ policy, Twitter removed the post and suspended his account for 12 hours.
Nigeria accuses Twitter of double standards
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed called Twitter’s mission in Nigeria “suspicious” and added that the US technology company has an agenda.
“We have a country to rule, and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter’s mission in Nigeria is very suspect, they have an agenda. The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” Mohammed had said on May 2, as per ANI.
Further, the Nigerian minister said that the social media firm had overlooked the tweets of leading secessionists in the nation. He went on to say that when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ‘End SARS’, a decentralised social movement, then for Twitter it was about the right to protest. “But when a similar thing happened in the US, it became insurrection,” Mohammed said.
Twitter faces backlash in India
The significant development comes at a time when the California-based social media platform is facing backlash in India as well. While the new IT rules for social media platforms came into effect on May 25 this year, Twitter is yet to comply with the guidelines despite stating that it ‘strives’ to do so. The Government of India in a stern communication had objected against its non-compliance and issued a warning to the firm. The matter has reached the courts with the Delhi High Court adjourning the matter until July 6.
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