The Nigerian government, like any government in the world, has its critics. But, unlike some governments, Nigerian leaders have expressed a willingness to silence dissent. One way they have talked about doing this is blocking access to social media. If they tried to do so, it would certainly disrupt the communication of many people inside the borders of Nigeria, but it would not really kill social media in the country. Because good VPN services exist, any attempt to block part of the internet will have limited success. A closer examination of how and why the government might carry out censorship may clarify this.
A history of censorship
Africa is a large continent and it would be unfair to group all the countries of the continent under the same label.
With this in mind, there is a pattern of censorship that has emerged from a number of African countries over the past decade. In many instances, this censorship has been severe. If you are in Nigeria and worried about having access to social media in the long run, a brief history of some other countries in the region may shed some light for you.
Major internet censorship notably gained momentum during the Arab Spring in 2011. Libya and Egypt both went to great lengths to limit internet access. Specifically, they attempted to deny access to social media sites.
These sites were frequently used by dissidents to stage protests. Ultimately, these protest groups helped form the backbone of the resistances that overthrew both governments. Obviously, the stakes were high.
Since the Arab Spring, similar conditions have occurred in a number of other countries, from Ethiopia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In total, more than 10 African countries have attacked access to social media in an attempt to prevent dissidents from organizing their movements. These efforts have yielded mixed results.
What does this mean for Nigeria? If the government sees enough dissent and general unrest, it might be inclined to take action like in other countries over the past decade.
Nigerian internet control
Since October 2020, Nigeria has been seriously discussing internet throttling and social media restrictions. A whole chain of command has been established to speed up and facilitate the implementation of these restrictions if the order is placed. The Communications Commission of Nigeria can essentially withdraw the taking of a single order.
If that were to happen, things in Nigeria would be difficult. Regular internet use would be harder to come by. The convenience of modern apps would disappear. Working from home would be an incredible challenge, and given the state of the pandemic in Nigeria, this presents a major problem. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa by quite a large margin. Any internet throttling could be disastrous for the economy and the daily lives of residents.
Despite the mechanisms and consequences, completely cutting off all internet access in Nigeria would prove extremely difficult. Most internet service is handled by a handful of private companies in the country. A government order could force them to kill a lot of traffic, but there are many external forces at play, and these external forces will inevitably force the government to want to keep certain avenues of Internet traffic open. This extends mainly to communications with foreign powers. International pressure can and has prevented African countries from completely shutting down their internet infrastructure, and Nigeria will likely behave the same way if the order comes to throttle the internet.
Ultimately, this means government internet throttling can be intense and disruptive, but not complete. There will be ways around such a move. The easiest workaround is using satellite internet which is not directly controlled by the government. Other more complex methods could include cellular internet and finding nodes that stay open for any number of reasons.
Social media is a whole different story. Killing the Internet would primarily aim to cut off access to social media to inhibit organized dissent. The easiest method is to directly block access to social media sites. The rest of the internet may work, but residents within Nigeria’s borders would not have access to any social media servers.
This is entirely plausible and not entirely difficult for the government to implement. They can simply block the IP addresses of social media servers so that any request from Nigeria will not receive any response. It’s a complete social media blackout, and it would accomplish the main goal.
The good news is that this method of blocking access is a manageable obstacle. Overcoming IP blocks is quite easy with the implementation of a VPN. You just need to route your social media request through an intermediary who is not in Nigeria. Foreign VPN servers do this automatically, and using them is incredibly simple.
The VPN solution
VPNs are used for many purposes, and one of the main reasons is to route your traffic through a VPN server. This accomplishes two things. It anonymizes your IP address and gives you internet access as seen in other countries. If Nigeria blocks access to social media, you can go through a VPN that is in any country without such restrictions. Social media sites become available and no one can trace the activity back to you (via your IP address) because the VPN anonymizes your internet activity.
Anyone worried about social media access in the coming months or years should investigate VPN resources. Having access now can ensure a workaround when the time comes.
