THE federal government on Tuesday accused Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder, of funding last year’s #EndSARS protests in Nigeria and thereby liable for the losses Nigeria suffered as a result of the violence that emanated from the protests by Nigerian youth against police brutality.
Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this on Tuesday when he featured on a Radio Nigeria call-in programme, “Politics Nationwide,” monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Alhaji Mohammed alleged that the Twitter founder raised funds through Bitcoins to sponsor the #EndSARS protest while using Twitter as a platform to fuel the crisis. He said when he made the allegations earlier; Nigerians did not take him serious until an online media outfit carried out an investigation and fact-checking. He said the online publication confirmed that Mr Dorsey retweeted some of the posts by some of the coalitions supporting the #EndSARS protest.
Alhaji Mohammed said it was also confirmed that the Twitter founder launched a fundraising campaign mobilising people to donate via Bitcoins; and that Mr Dorsey further launched an Emoji to make the #EndSARS protest visible on the Twitter website.
He also alleged that Mr Dorsey retweeted the tweets of some foreign and local supporters of #EndSARS protesters.
“If you ask people to donate money via bitcoins for #EndSARS protesters then you are vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protest. We have forgotten that EndSARS led to loss of lives, including 37 policemen, six soldiers, 57 civilians while property worth billions of naira were destroyed; 164 police vehicles and 134 police stations were razed to the ground, 265 private corporate organisation were looted, while 243 public property were looted; 81 warehouses were looted, while over 200 brand new buses bought by Lagos State government were burnt to ashes,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed described as unfair the conclusion by many Nigerians that Twitter was suspended indefinitely because it deleted President Buhari’s tweet. He said the government was unambiguous on why it suspended the social media platform; as it categorically accused it of offering its platform to promote the views of those who wanted to destabilise the country and agenda that were inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
“Twitter has become a platform of choice for a particular separatist promoter,” the minister said in apparent reference to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“The [IPOB] promoter consistently used the platform to direct his loyalists to kill Nigerian soldiers and policemen, run down INEC offices and destroy all symbols of Nigeria’s sovereignty. Every attempt to persuade Twitter to deny its platform to this separatist leader was not taken serious,” Mohammed said, adding that the federal government has no apology to offer those that are unhappy on the suspension of Twitter. He said a country must exist in peace before people could exercise freedom of speech and fight for a source of livelihood.
The minister also revealed that Twitter has formally written to seek dialogue on issues leading to the indefinite suspension of its operations by the Nigerian government. “I can confirm that Twitter has written the federal government that they are ready to talk. As we have always maintained, the door is not locked and we are open-minded but Twitter must work toward it,” he said.
The minister restated that as preconditions for Twitter to resume its operations in Nigeria, the platform must enter an agreement as to what contents it could post, must register as a Nigerian company, obtain a license from the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and be guided by the rules of the licensing as well as pay taxes.
The minister argued that regulation of social media platforms has become a global practice as most countries are just waking up to the fact that the platforms were becoming more powerful than even government and needed to be regulated.
“Singapore, Algeria, Pakistan, Turkey regulate the social media, Australia has done so; even EU that does not have particular laws on social media has made recommendations in a white paper,” Mohammed said, adding that the United Kingdom initiated a new law that would make social media companies to be fined up to 18 million pounds if they failed to stamp out online abuses.
Mohammed added that Google was fined 220 million euros on June 7 by French Competition Regulator for abusing its dominance in the online advertising market in France. Similarly, the minister said the federal cabinet of Pakistan had approved a new set of rules to regulate social media.
In the rules, according to the minister, companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Tik-Tok were to register and open offices in Pakistan. He said in compliance with the new online broadcasting rule of Turkey, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video had obtained licences from that country’s broadcasting authority.
The minister noted that the regulation of social media was not synonymous with stifling press freedom. “We must not confuse press freedom with irresponsibility. How can you stay in your country and allow your own platform to be used to propagate war in another country? The suspension of Twitter is to ensure that no particular platform is used to cause war in Nigeria.
“Secondly, to ensure that whoever is making money in Nigeria must be made to pay tax. Our appeal to Nigerians is that they should understand where we are coming from. We have no intention to stifle people’s freedom or to cut off the source of livelihood of anybody. There must be a country devoid of war before we can talk of freedom and a source of living,” he said.
