Faizel Patel – 05/05/2021

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Nigeria’s government has suspended Twitter’s operations indefinitely, two days after the social media giant deleted a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari’s account for violating its rules.

AFP reports that Twitter was still working in Africa’s most populous country soon after Friday’s statement, which triggered immediate criticism from rights groups and analysts about freedom of expression.

Nigeria’s information ministry says Twitter was “suspended, indefinitely,” because of “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The ministry also announced the suspension on its own Twitter account though it gave no details on when the decision would take effect or what form the suspension would take.