MTN, Airtel, others block subscriber access to Twitter
Following the decision of the Federal government to place a ban on microblogging site, Twitter, Telcos including MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9Mobile have begun the process of blocking their subscribers from accessing the social media platform.
Earlier in the week, Twitter had deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari citing a breach of its community rules as the post insinuated war and injustices. With about 61.4 per cent of Nigerian social media users on Twitter, the reactions which followed the president’s tweet further fueled the site’s decision to delete the post.
According to the Telecommunications companies, this move comes after they received directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to block subscriber access.
The directive which was given to mobile network operators in the country under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria and titled ‘Order to Suspend access to Twitter’ , was jointly signed by ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo; and ALTON Executive Secretary, Gbolahan Awonuga.
It reads in part: “We, The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria wish to confirm that our members have received formal instructions from the Nigerian Communications Commission, the industry regulator to suspend access to Twitter.”
“ALTON has conducted a robust assessment of the directive in accordance with internationally accepted principles. Based on national interest provisions in the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, and within the licence terms under which the industry operates; our members have acted in compliance with the directives of the Nigerian Communications Commission, the industry regulator.”
“We will continue to engage all the relevant authorities and stakeholders and will act as may be further directed by the NCC. We remain committed to supporting the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and upholding the rights of citizens.
“As an industry, we endorse the position of the United Nations that the rights held by people offline must also be protected online. This includes respecting and protecting the rights of all people to communicate, to share information freely and responsibly, and to enjoy privacy and security regarding their data and their use of digital communications.”
Besides MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9Mobile, some of the other Internet Service Providers in Nigeria include Spectranet, ipNX Nigeria Limited, Swift Networks Ltd., Vezeti Service LTD, Cyberspace Network Limited, Mobitel Limited, Smile Nigeria, ITClick Solutions Limited, and Netcom Africa.
Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who announced the suspension of the microblogging site, made the announcement via the same platform, stated that the government can no longer condone the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
In April, the American micro blogging and social networking service announced the establishment of its first presence in Africa, choosing Ghana as its home.
Controversies and back lashing erupted across the social media platform when former Nigeria presidential aspirant Adamu Garba tweeted in response to the announcement: “I pray Ghana would not allow their country to be used as a platform for the orchestration of nuisance on the African internet space. Nigeria is safer without the hypocrisy of Twitter. We shall have to improve on our methods for elimination of fake news on the information space.”
It should be recollected that Adamu Garba had recently sued the Big tech for supporting the #EndSARS protests, although he later withdrew the case.
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