In a bid to regulate social media, the Federal Government has now taken a stand saying, Twitter, Facebook and other social media giants doing business in Nigeria must register in the country before being allowed to operate unhindered.
Mr Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture disclosed this. He claimed that Twitter, which was last week suspended, has called for a high-level discussion.
Mohammed made this known in Abuja while briefing journalists after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
Mohammed said he got the message yesterday morning and repeated government’s stance that Twitter was suspended because it provided an avenue for people threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.
According to him part of the reasons for banning the microblogging app includes the fact that Twitter helped fund the recent #EndSARS protest and is also allowing the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to use the platform to call for the killing of security operatives.
He added that Twitter failed to take down Kanu’s tweets despite repeated requests to do so.The minister said he has already directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in the country. The NBC as part of implementing the directive has also asked all broadcasting stations to suspend usage of their Twitter accounts with immediate effect.
Mohammed listed conditions that must be met even if there is a discussion with Twitter, including that it must now be registered in Nigeria as a business concern. According to the government spokesman, freedom of speech has not been trampled upon by the suspension of Twitter as he maintained that Nigerians still have access to other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
