Nigeria has lifted a ban on Twitter after the social media company agreed to open a local office and meet other conditions set out by authorities in Africa’s most populous country.
The reversal came seven months after Abuja ordered telecoms providers to block Twitter in response to the company removing a post by President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened a violent crackdown on secessionists in the country’s south-east. The ban will be lifted from Thursday.
“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN [federal government of Nigeria] and the broader industry to develop a code of conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, head of the National Information Technology Development Agency, said in a statement.
Beyond opening a local office, Twitter agreed to appoint a country head and to pay domestic taxes.
In June, the government said it had banned Twitter because of the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
Buhari, a 79-year-old former military dictator, has been accused by local activists of closing civic space in Nigeria since he was democratically elected in 2015.
Protests against police brutality swept through the country of 200m last year, rallying under the hashtag #EndSARS, which referred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a notorious police unit.
The demonstrations went viral on Twitter, with the social media company’s chief executive at the time Jack Dorsey posting his support using the hashtag.
Twitter is used by only a small percentage of Nigerians but it is popular among activists, journalists and politicians.
Diplomats from the EU, UK, Ireland, Norway and Canada criticised the ban in a joint statement. The US embassy in Nigeria said it “undermines Nigerians’ ability to exercise” freedom of expression and “sends a poor message to its citizens, investors and businesses”.
Nigerians, including opposition politicians, have evaded the ban by using virtual private networks, or VPNs. Members of the government have also used the platform on trips abroad.
