Nigeria orders media to remove Twitter after nationwide site ban

Nigeria has ordered all TV and radio stations to “immediately suspend the patronage of Twitter,” describing its use as unpatriotic, the country’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said Monday.

The government of Africa’s most populous country said it was suspending the platform Friday, two days after the US social media giant deleted a tweet from the president’s account for violating the rules.

“Broadcasters are hereby advised to uninstall Twitter handles and refrain from using Twitter as a source…for information gathering for news,” NBC executive Armstrong Idachaba wrote in a statement.

“It would be unpatriotic for a broadcaster in Nigeria to continue to patronize the suspended Twitter as a source of information.”

According to NOI polls, a public opinion and research organization, more than 39 million Nigerians have a Twitter account.

Some Nigerian broadcasters are concerned that the measures against Twitter are part of a more general crackdown on the media.

“It’s very important that we push back and quickly because they can move forward. We need to talk to the different media houses and adopt a strong and common response,” said a social media executive at a major Nigerian TV station with several thousand followers on Twitter, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the issue.

“Twitter is a very important platform for us and it attracts a lot of viewers worldwide.”

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama met with diplomats in the capital Abuja on Monday after several countries issued a joint statement expressing concern over the Twitter ban.

“Banning expression systems is not the answer,” the EU, the US, Britain, Canada and Ireland said in a statement late on Saturday.

The statement added that it was “exactly the time for Nigeria to promote inclusive dialogue and expression, as well as share vital information during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Prosecution of Violators

The minister urged “responsible use of the media” in comments to reporters after the meeting.

“We’re not saying Twitter is threatening Nigeria or anything like that,” Onyeama said.

“Why we have taken such a measure is to see if we can rebalance the media as forces of good and prevent them from being used as platforms for destabilization and facilitation and encouragement of crime.”

US Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard said the diplomatic community stood by her position.

“We recognize that there are issues with the responsible use of social media, but we stand by our view that free access to the opportunity to express oneself is actually very important,” she told reporters.

The government’s suspension came after Twitter deleted a comment on President Muhammadu Buhari’s account on Wednesday, referring to the country’s civil war in a warning about recent unrest five decades ago.

The presidency denied that Twitter’s suspension was in response to the removal of that post.

“There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had violent real-world consequences,” a presidency spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.

Shehu said the removal of Buhari’s tweet was “disappointing” and that “big tech companies need to take responsibility”.

Twitter said it was “deeply concerned about Twitter’s blocking in Nigeria” and that it would work “to restore access to everyone”.

International human rights groups have also condemned the move, which followed previous attempts by the government to regulate social media.

“VPN app” was the second most-searched trend on Google in Nigeria on Saturday, as virtual private networks could allow Twitter users to circumvent the ban.

However, Nigeria warned that it would prosecute violators.

“The Federation Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami has ordered the immediate prosecution of violators of the federal government’s ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria,” spokesman Umar Jibrilu Gwandu said.

The platform has been instrumental in public debate in the country, with hashtags #BringBackOurGirls after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014, and #EndSARS during protests against police brutality last year.

(AFP)