THELOGICALINDIAN - On the apparent it looks like Nigerias abeyance of Twitter operations on June 4 may accept been triggered by the microblogging companys accommodation to booty bottomward a arguable cheep from President Mohammed Buhari However as some assemblage accept acclaimed the abatement of the cheep may accept presented the Nigerian government with the absolute alibi for targeting Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
Nigeria’s Anti-Tech Policies
As broadly reported, amusing media mogul Dorsey tweeted his abutment and endorsement of the EndSars protests aback in October 2020. In a cheep that affronted Nigerian officials, Dorsey asked his followers to accord bitcoin to organizers of the beef afterwards the movement’s coffer accounts were frozen. Also, in accession to acknowledging the protests, the CEO afresh tweeted and aggregate accessories that alarm on Nigerian authorities to accompany what he calls the “bitcoin standard.”
Therefore, back Twitter deleted the President’s cheep afterwards alleging that it had abandoned its policies, this accepted to be the final straw. The Nigerian government responded to the tweet’s abatement by suspending the company’s operations and by aggressive to arrest Twitter users that defied an adjustment to stop application the platform. While this accommodation has been condemned by abounding including the U.S. government, President Buhari’s administering charcoal undeterred.
Still, others are examination Twitter’s abeyance as a assiduity of Nigeria’s anti-tech behavior that arise to accept started with the targeting of the crypto industry. Starting on February 6, 2021, Nigerian banking institutions accept been adhering to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive that requires them to stop extending their casework to businesses or individuals that accord with cryptocurrencies.
De Facto Home to the Crypto Community
As a aftereffect of this directive, players in Nigeria’s crypto industry accept had to resort to platforms that cannot be censored by the government. However, clashing the CBN directive, the abeyance of Twitter in Nigeria appears to accept alongside created an alike bigger claiming for the country’s crypto industry. As one Nigerian media aperture explained, Twitter has acted as “the articulation of the crypto apple and has been accustomed as the de facto home of the crypto community.” The aperture warns that with Twitter now blocked, Nigerian crypto enthusiasts can no best “get insights and angle from some of the greatest minds in the crypto space.”
This appearance is aggregate by Adedayo Adebajo, who is the managing administrator of Jerulida Africa DLT. In acknowledgment to analysis beatific by Bitcoin.com News, Adebajo said:
When the CBN directed banking institutions to stop alms their casework to crypto entities beforehand in the year, crypto exchanges and traders responded by affective their business to P2P platforms. As ahead accepted in a report by Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria’s P2P bitcoin volumes surged afterward the artifice of the CBN directive. Similarly, some Nigeria-based Twitter users accept responded to the Twitter ban by installing basic clandestine arrangement (VPN) applications on their adaptable devices.
Use and Impact of VPNs
This growing use of VPNs by Twitter users in Nigeria has been accepted by Nigeria-based crypto enthusiasts like Aniekan Fyneface, a Nigerian blockchain enthusiast and agreeable developer. In his acknowledgment to an analysis from Bitcoin.com News, Fyneface addendum that abounding Nigerians are still alive on Twitter admitting the suspension. Still, this use of VPNs has not had the adapted results, according to Adebajo. He explained:
Meanwhile, Fynface tells Bitcoin.com News that the Twitter ban is absurd to accept a big appulse on the industry. He insists that Nigerian crypto users will still acquisition another means of accessing advice aloof like they accept begin means of application their coffer accounts to buy cryptocurrencies alike afterwards the CBN charge was issued.
Do you anticipate the abeyance of Twitter by Nigerian authorities is adverse the advance of the country’s crypto space? Tell us what you anticipate in the comments area below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, TY Lim
