THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on June 5, 2021 claimed that Nigeria is the only African country where Twitter is restricted.
SERAP made the claim on its official Twitter page amidst the ban placed on Twitter in Nigeria by the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
““BREAKING: Nigeria is currently the only country in Africa, where Twitter is restricted,” the tweet read.
READ ALSO: Viral photo of cattle eating tomatoes is from India, not Nigeria
The tweet already garnered 1,279 retweets and 2,172 likes as of 2pm on June 7, 2021.
The FactCheckHub noticed a similar claim was made by a Twitter page tagged “Africa Facts Zone” with the username @AfricaFactsZone which was also retweeted by SERAP.
THE CLAIM
Nigeria is currently the only country in Africa where Twitter is restricted.
THE FINDINGS
The Nigerian government on Friday, June 5, suspended the operations of the US-based social media platform, Twitter in Nigeria.
The government said the platform was persistently used for activities that could undermine the corporate existence of Nigeria, hence the need for the suspension.
The suspension, however, generated heated arguments from organisations like Nigerian Bar Association, opposition party, as well as, foreign diplomatic missions in the country.
READ ALSO: Can walking barefoot increase the size of a man’s genital?
Prior to the claim, SERAP had earlier criticised the decision of the government to suspend the operation of Twitter, just as it threatened to sue the government for the move.
Data from Access Now, an organisation that tracks internet shutdown and social media censorship across the globe show that Nigeria is the only African country where Twitter is currently restricted.
According to Access Now, Algeria, Burundi, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Togo and Uganda had at one point restricted the use of social media or shutdown the internet in their respective countries. Ethiopia currently has internet shutdown in it’s Tigray region and Uganda has some form of Facebook restriction.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Nigeria is currently the only African country where Twitter is restricted is TRUE.
RELATED REPORTS:
 claimed that Nigeria is the only African country where Twitter is restricted.){kind=link}