Twitter was suspended in the country two days after the platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists in Nigeria as it was allegedly in violation of the Twitter abusive behaviour policy.
Days after suspending microblogging site Twitter indefinitely, the Indian version of the same, Koo, seems to have made its debut in Nigeria. Screenshots of the Nigerian government’s account on Koo was circulated online.
Meanwhile, the Government of Nigeria said Twitter has made an approach for dialogue in a bid to resolve the issues that led to its suspension in the West African country.
After imposing ban on Twitter, Govt of Nigeria on Koo pic.twitter.com/0vi2GetIlK
— Vikas Bhadauria (ABP News) (@vikasbha) June 10, 2021
Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said he got a message from the micro-blogging platform on Wednesday morning, seeking a dialogue with the government. “They (Twitter) are now ready to hold senior-level discussions with us,” he told reporters.
The minister, however, pointed out that what is more important to the Nigerian government is “the sovereignty of Nigeria.” It is insisting on the official registration of Twitter and other social media platforms.
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“The cardinal thing is … that Twitter must be licensed in Nigeria and Twitter must stop using its platform for activities that are inimical to the growth of Nigeria or to its corporate existence,” Mohammed said.
Twitter was suspended in the country two days after the platform deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists in the West African nation as it was allegedly in violation of the Twitter abusive behaviour policy.
Twitter has said that it was investigating its ādeeply concerningā suspension by the Nigerian government.
Koo, India’s micro-blogging platform, which shares several features with the platform it is trying to replace, was originally designed specifically for Indians as it offered its services in multiple local languages.
The CEO of Koo, Aprameya Radhakrishna, not only confirmed that it now offers its services in Nigeria but also revealed that they are considering offering it in a local Nigerian language too. There are over 500 native languages spoken in Nigeria including Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.
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