A.frika’s most populous state, Nigeria, wants to re-allow the short message service Twitter after a seven-month ban. This was announced by a government official on Wednesday evening in the former capital Lagos. After talks with the US company, it was agreed that Twitter would open an office in Nigeria, it said. Further details about the agreements were initially not known. The lock should be lifted at midnight.
On June 5, President Muhammadu Buhari gave instructions to shut down the service in the West African country with around 200 million inhabitants. Twitter had previously deleted a controversial message from the president about the Nigerian civil war and paralyzed the account of the head of state for twelve hours. The government gave no specific reason for the ban at the time. However, she pointed out that the platform was used again and again for activities that were able to undermine Nigeria’s existence.
Since then, there have been repeated conversations between Twitter and the government. Buhari had already promised to lift the lock in October – but without concrete consequences. Twitter is very popular in Nigeria. Young Nigerians used the platform in 2019 to organize protests against police violence.
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