A whistleblower complaint filed by Twitter’s former security head, Peiter Mudge Zatko, has shown that Twitter did not negotiate with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to overturn the seven-month ban imposed on the microblogging site by the federal government earlier this year.
The federal government, in June 2021, restricted the social network’s operations in Nigeria after a violence-inciting tweet was deleted from the president’s handle in June 2021.
Buhari had threatened genocide against the Igbo-dominated south-east in the tweet which violated Twitter’s policy on violence and abusive behaviour.
The document partly reads, “The Nigerian government blocked Twitter in June 2021, then falsely claimed to be in negotiations with Twitter executives.
“Twitter’s failure to correct the false record on many reported non-existent discussions with the federal government permitted Nigeria to negotiate unilaterally through the media and dictate unfavourable terms for final resolution.”
The information in the document was contrary to the statements made by the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, who repeatedly claimed that the federal government was in talks with Twitter about lifting the ban.
In the protected whistleblower disclosure, Zatko stressed that Twitter did not refute the minister’s report, thus encouraging misinformation through their silence and giving the Buhari-led administration a chance to stifle free speech, WeeTracker reports.
The document added that, “Twitter’s deliberate decision to refrain from correcting misinformation about Twitter’s proposed negotiations with the Nigerian government directly harmed Twitter shareholders.
“It permitted the federal government of Nigeria to impose various conditions on free expression rights of Nigerians.”
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