Nigeria: government announces to suspend Twitter "indefinitely"
President Muhammadu Buhari, May 18, 2021. Ludovic MARIN POOL / AFP / File
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The Nigerian government announced in a statement Friday, June 4, that it had suspended Twitter activities in Africa's most populous country, two days after the social network deleted a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari.
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The federal government has suspended, for an indefinite period, the activities of the microblogging service and social network Twitter in Nigeria,
" said the Nigerian Ministry of Information and Culture in its statement.
Twitter deleted a message from President Buhari on Wednesday, June 2, threatening those responsible for the current violence in south-eastern Nigeria, the social network believing that the head of state was breaking its rules of use.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed replied in a message to the press that if Twitter had its own rules, the president had the right to comment on the situation in Nigeria.
He had notably accused the social network of tolerating the messages of the leader of a separatist group active in south-eastern Nigeria which, according to him, encouraged violence.
The minister also referred to the call made last year by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to donate bitcoins to support protests against police violence that rocked the country.
“
Twitter's mission to Nigeria after these two examples is very suspect.
What are his intentions?
“, He had launched to journalists.
In November 2019, the government had put in place stricter measures to regulate the media and fight against disinformation on social networks, which had been perceived by civil society as a restriction on freedom of expression.
Nigeria is the largest democracy in Africa, but the government is regularly singled out by human rights organizations.
(
With AFP
)
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