It’s been almost four months since the ban of the microblogging app Twitter from Nigeria, However, today there seem to be a silver lining to lifting the ban as conveyed in President Muhammad Buhari’s 61st Independence Day speech.
In addressing Nigerians today for the Independence day celebration, the President said that the ban will be lifted if Twitter met certain conditions.
He said the presidency had presented Twitter with ten requests but only seven had been met. The pending ones include setting up a local office in Nigeria, paying tax locally, and cooperating with the Nigerian government to regulate content and harmful tweets.
President Buhari however commended the usage of Twitter to pass information but on the contrary said that there are some “bad actors who misuse the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments.” This is why the government suspended Twitter since June 5.
He also mentioned that the committee setup to review the ban has so far discussed five issues with Twitter which are; national security and cohesion, registration, physical presence and representation, fair taxation, dispute resolution, and local content.
“Following the extensive engagements, the issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements,” he said.
Would Twitter Grant The Remaining 3 Requests?
Even though the Presidency said that Twitter was suspended because of its propagation of fake news, promotion of ethnic and religious sentiments, among other reasons, the remaining 3 conditions Twitter haven’t met gives every reason to doubt.
In April, Ghana was announced as the Africa headquarters of Twitter. The social media giant set up an office there giving reasons that Ghana supports “free speech, online freedom, and the open internet”.
The choice caused a rift between Twitter NG and Ghanaian Twitter users. In-between the jokes/memes, one could tell that Nigerians felt offended at the choice because so to say, we are known as the giant’s of Africa. If an office should be set up, why not in Nigeria?
Although the Nigerian presidency remained mum about it. Now seeing that setting up an office in Nigeria is part of the conditions Twitter hasn’t met, it gives reason to believe that the Presidency is offended at Twitter headquarters choice, Ghana.
Also, most of the speculations over the suspension of Twitter hinged on the fact that the presidency was offended after Twitter deleted a controversial post of president Buhari, threatening to punish regional secessionists. The presidency denied this though.
Now, the presidency proposing that Twitter cooperates with it to regulate content and harmful tweets, speaks volume. It boils down to what the presidency’s definition of ‘harmful tweet’ is and if it correlates with that of Twitter. Is the presidency indirectly proposing that Twitter deletes any tweet that’s not in favor of the Nigeria government? We cannot say.
Would Twitter bow to these Requests? It’s a tough one.
Although at the beginning of the suspension, it was difficult for Nigerians to adapt using VPNs. Many businesses dependent on the platform complained about the decline in sales but right now, it seems as though there was never a ban. Interesting to note that Nigerians are very good at adapting, We’ll see how this unfolds.
