The Federal Government has suspended the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria indefinitely.
According to a statement by Segun Adeyemi, Special Assistant To The President (Media) Office of the Minister of Information and Culture using the Nigerian government’s Twitter handle, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
The Minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting l Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.
Recall that Twitter had recently deleted a controversial post by the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari on the Biafra war which led to the killings of more than three million Igbos. Twitter said the post broke its rules.
The action of Twitter was described by the Nigerian government as double standard as it claimed that the social media giant had been ignoring inciting tweets by the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The latest action by the Federal Government is coming after Twitter went ahead to delete the video which contained the same message posted on the Nigerian government’s handle after initially deleting the President Buhari’s tweet on his personal handle.
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