No plan to ban Twitter, others – FG

Agency reports,

The Federal Government has said that it has no plan to ban any social media platform.

It said it will not stifle free speech in any manner whatsoever.

But it said it will not allow any platform whatsoever to throw the nation into crisis.

The government also said it is closely monitoring the evolving developments in Twitter following its change of ownership.

The Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed made these known at a joint stewardship briefing with the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika in Abuja.

He said what happened in the case of Twitter was well-known.

He said: “Please permit me to quickly address an issue that has elicited a lot of inquiries from the media in recent times.

” Many of your colleagues have called to ask us what will become of our agreement with Twitter in view of the change in its ownership. “Many have asked for our reaction following

reports that there has been a spike in fake news, disinformation and hate speech since the micro-blogging site changed ownership.” Many have even asked us if another ban is in the offing?

” Let me say this: We are closely monitoring the evolving developments at Twitter. It has never been our intention to ban any social media platform or stifle free speech. Not at all. “What happened in the case of Twitter is well known to all. Twitter became a platform

of choice for those who want to destabilize Nigeria, using fake news, disinformation and hate speech.

” No nation will allow any social media

platform to plunge it into anarchy. Definitely not Nigeria. But we have continued to engage positively with the different social media

platforms, including Facebook, Google (owners of YouTube) and Twitter.

” We have no intention of banning any social media platform again. But we will also not sit by and allow any platform whatsoever to throw our nation into crisis.”