How Nigeria succeeded in clipping Twitter's wings

  • 2022-01-18 02:44:53
Twitter has agreed to a raft of conditions to end a seven-month ban in Nigeria, in what feels like a big win for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration in its efforts to regulate the internet, some analysts say. Nigeria - Africa's most populous country - now joins the likes of India, Indonesia and Turkey, which tightly regulate social media companies. This is something other African governments are likely to take note of, as they try to prevent the use of social media for mobilising opposition groups. Some of the conditions accepted by Twitter have raised concerns about its future operations in Nigeria. "It is definitely concerning that Twitter may have capitulated to an arrangement that would allow Nigeria to pressure it into decisions it would not otherwise make," David Greene, director at US NGO Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). He said Twitter should have agreed to obey local laws only if they upheld human rights. The agreement gave the government the advantage in enforcing take-down orders and data demands against the company, Mr Greene added.

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