Recommendations For Twitter Will Affect Other Social Media Platforms – Lai

Twitter Imposes Daily Reading Limit

Recommendations facilitating the lifting of the suspension of Twitter will apply to other social media and Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms in Nigeria, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said.

The minister disclosed this on the ‘This Morning’ show on Television Continental on Monday, noting the need for uniform guidelines to avoid repeating the Twitter situation with other social media platforms, Mohammed said.

Mohammed described ongoing discussions with Twitter representatives as “positive” and “rosy”, without divulging any further information.

However, he said that the ministerial committee charged with the oversight of such matters – chaired by him – would submit its agreed-upon recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mohammed said, “All I can say is that the recommendations we are going to make will not only be applicable to Twitter but they will be applicable to all OTTs and other social media platforms in Nigeria.

“Today, we are dealing with Twitter, we don’t want a situation where we will be dealing with Facebook tomorrow and Instagram the next day. Our recommendations will be very comprehensive.

“You will recall that during the 61st Independence anniversary celebration, the president said Twitter will return to Nigeria as soon as they meet the conditions of government.

“Even last night, the ministerial team met under my chairmanship and we reviewed the position of things.

“I want to say that we should wait for the committee to officially give its reports to the president but things are looking very positive and rosy.

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“After submitting our reports and recommendations to the president, I will be disposed to say what we agreed and what have been met and what has not been met.”

Twitter was suspended indefinitely by the Federal Government on 5 June 2021 after it deleted a post by Buhari.

Giving a reason for the suspension, Lai Mohammed said that the social media platform fostered activities that undermined the country’s corporate existence.

The suspension costs Nigeria about $60 million daily, according to NetBlocks. Following the suspension, the Federal Government established a communication channel with Twitter representatives, through the creation of a ministerial team that includes the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige; and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.

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