All the social media platforms operating in Nigeria are now to be licensed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) following an indefinite suspension of the micro-blogging platform "Twitter" by the Federal Government on Friday.

Twitter said in its initial reaction to the clampdown that it was investigating the action against it.

Nigerians in their thousands condemned the ban.

Government cited “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” for its action.

On Wednesday, Information and Tourism Minister Lai Mohammed accused Twitter of playing double standards in matters concerning domestic issues, and described the company’s role in Nigeria as suspect and treat to the unity of the country .

Twitter had pulled down a comment by President Muhammadu Buhari in which he said the federal government would  treat “those misbehaving today” in “the language they understand” in reference  to the civil war.

Almost simultaneously with the suspension of Twitter yesterday, Facebook pulled down Buhari’s threat against “those misbehaving.”

In a similar move, Facebook extended the ban it placed on the account of the immediate past US president Donald Trump to two years.

Incidentally, the federal government’s ban on Twitter was broken on the same social medium by the Federal Ministry of Information. But it did not say how the ban would be enforced.

Twitter was still available to Nigerian users as at 8.30pm yesterday.

By that time, the ban had attracted over 265,000 comments, many of which derided government and its officials.

Lai Mohammed in a statement through his Special Assistant Segun Adeyemi said the federal government has “suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria”.

He said the action stemmed from “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

 

He also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to “immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”

Other social media platforms used by Nigerians include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.

Twitter: ‘We’re investigating action against us’

Twitter in its first reaction to the ban yesterday said it was “deeply concerning”.

It said it was “investigating and will provide updates when we know more.

 

Twitter spokesperson had said it pulled down Buhari’s post because it “was in violation of the Twitter Rules. The account owner will be required to delete the violative Tweet and spend 12 hours with their account in read-only mode”.