A seven-month ban on Twitter use in Nigeria was unlawful, according to a court ruling by West Africa’s ECOWAS regional bloc, presented to AFP on Thursday.
The Abuja government blocked Twitter last June after the social media giant deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. She lifted the ban in January.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court issued its decision following a lawsuit brought by a Nigerian NGO called the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and rights activists.
In a summary statement shared with AFP, the court said the internationally recognized ban was unlawful, violated freedom of expression and access to the media, and violated provisions of both the African Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights .
In declaring the ban unlawful, the court also directed Nigerian authorities never to repeat it.
Abuja lifted the suspension after talks with Twitter officials, but laid down conditions including registering Twitter for its operations in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy.
With three quarters of Nigeria’s 200 million people under the age of 24, the country is heavily connected to social media.
The ban shocked many in Nigeria given Twitter’s important role in political discourse, as illustrated by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, which was deployed after Boko Haram militants kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in 2014.
Young activists also took to Twitter to organize the #EndSARS protests against police brutality, which eventually grew into the largest demonstrations in Nigeria’s modern history before being suppressed.
Around 40 million Nigerians, or about 20 percent of the population, have a Twitter account.
Abuja first announced an indefinite ban, accusing the platform of allowing activities it said threatened the country’s existence, citing posts by separatist agitators from the country’s southeast where a civil war killed a million people five decades ago .
Nigerian National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said at the time there were “unscrupulous elements” using Twitter “for subversive purposes and criminal activities, spreading fake news and polarizing Nigerians”.
The ban came two days after Twitter removed a tweet from President Buhari warning he would take action and treat these users “in the language they understand.”
#Nigerias #Twitter #ban #unlawful #West #African #court
