Nigeria: social networks at the heart of a battle for influence of the army

Twitter has been the subject of a Nigerian military influence campaign.

AP Photo / Richard Drew

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In Nigeria, social networks are at the heart of a battle for influence, more than two weeks after the brutal repression of the youth protest movement against police violence and for better governance in the country.

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For two weeks, the Nigerian authorities have been making more declarations in favor of increased control of the internet in the country.

A goal posted for several years by Nigerian officials.

A few hours after the intervention of the security forces at the Lekki tollgate on Tuesday, October 20, the Nigerian army began to post on Twitter screenshots of articles reporting an intervention by the military, all systematically barred from words " 

Fake News

 " in red letter.

►Also read: After the drama of Lekki, Nigeria is mobilizing against police violence

In the days that followed, government messages began to be relayed massively on the social network, which had until then been monopolized by activists of the

#EndSARS

movement

.

Security specialist Tanwa Ashiru explains that this is a recurring strategy of the Nigerian authorities, whose language is disseminated through a multitude of fake accounts.

Now, the Nigerian government seems determined to relaunch its offensive against social networks.

" 

We must regulate the social networks which must not become the relay of false information and incitement to hatred

 ", declared in particular the Minister of Information and Culture.

The governors of the north of the country have also officially declared themselves in favor of such control measures.

These threats are not new in Nigeria, where several bills aimed at regulating the use of social networks have been tabled since 2015.

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  • Nigeria

  • Social networks

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