Nigeria was ranked 66th country in the world to restrict access to social media in the past six years.
That’s according to a report by Surfshark, a virtual private network service provider company based in the British Virgin Islands..
Last Friday, the federal government announced the “indefinite duration” suspension of Twitter on “the persistent use of the platform for activities that could undermine the existence of the Nigerian business”.
The government also ordered the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately begin the licensing process for all over-the-top (OTT) media services and social media operations in Nigeria.
The federal government’s suspension of Twitter came days after President Muhammadu Buhari’s post on the 1967 civil war has been deleted by the microblogging platform.
the reporttitled “June 2021 Social media censorship tracker”, published by Surfshark, analyzed global social media restrictions in five regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, Americas and Oceania – highlighting the most significant cases of interruptions and restrictions .
He said at least 30 countries in Africa blocked or severely restricted access to social media between 2015 and 2021, especially during elections, protests, protests or reviews.
Gabrielle Racaityte-Racai, communications manager at Surfshark, acknowledged that since the inception of social media, over the years it has become a powerful political actor driving change across the world, and governments have sought ways to block or censor them.
“Social media has established itself as a key political player in its own right. However, as his influence grows, so does the desire of governments to censor him by introducing new laws, restricting access or blocking social media altogether,” Racaityte-Racai said.
“In 2021 alone, there were eight political cases of internet disruption across the world in Uganda, Russia, Myanmar, Senegal, Chad, Republic of Congo, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
“In the past, at least 16 countries, Republic of Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Togo, Tanzania, Benin, DRC, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone restricted access to social networks due to elections. And at least 7 countries – Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Mali, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe – have restricted access to social media in the past due to protests and demonstrations.
The federal government said it could only restore twitter operations whether citizens can use it “responsibly”.
