Nigeria lifted its Twitter ban after seven months
Nigeria lifted its Twitter ban after seven months
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Nigeria’s government has removed its ban on Twitter, seven months after the country’s more than 200 million people were barred from using the social media platform.

According to the director-general of Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has requested that Twitter operations restart in the country on Thursday. According to Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, this was only after Twitter agreed to certain requirements, including the establishment of a Nigerian office.

Nigeria shut down Twitter on June 4, alleging “consistent usage of the platform for actions that threaten Nigeria’s corporate existence.” The move drew criticism because it came only days after Buhari pledged to handle separatists “in the language they will understand” in a post on Facebook.

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“Our decision is a deliberate attempt to re-calibrate our relationship with Twitter in order to maximise mutual benefits for our country while not jeopardising the company’s legitimate interests,” the statement says. “Our discussion was respectful, friendly, and productive,” Abdullahi said in a statement.

A request for response from Twitter’s representative was not immediately returned.

Twitter has agreed to a number of criteria, including designating a designated country representative, complying with tax duties, and behaving “with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been founded,” according to Abdullahi.