CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

There is a vast amount of literature that emphasizes the significance of the freedom of speech in
any democracy, and that includes Nigeria. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Political Rights both cite that every
person has the right to freedom of speech and the right to seek out and diffuse information.
Nevertheless, current developments particularly the federal government bar on twitter in the
country have raised up serious demands on the practicality of this right in Nigeria. The
government suspended twitter because of a tweet they labelled aggressive, although this was
denied later with claims that the social media platform was excluded due to security motives.
Whichever ways, the action received widespread criticisms both from within and outside
Nigeria. It is broadly understood that the ban has depressingly affected numerous aspects of the
country’s economic, social and political atmosphere.

Moreover, certain ideologies both from outside and within the nation have also questioned the
sentimentalities of the American based company in prying in the political affairs of the country.
The argument is additionally validated on the point that Twitter which is very critical over a set
of guidelines to refute individuals the right to speak out is demanding to be the defender of free
speech. It has come to be a focus of argument as to what precisely does twitter describes as
offensive. According to Russia’s director of information Maria Zakharova debates that the
“information monster” even if it seems overly attractive should not dictate to a foreign
government how to live, how to infer historical events, what to watch on television or what
music to listen to. If not, as a champion for freedom of speech, it turns into a tyrant of opinion
for a sole purpose.

Against the background of this train of thought, this study scrutinizes the history of the twitter
ban in Nigeria along with its effect on the social, political and economic standpoint.
2.2 CONCEPT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Freedom of expression is a core human right which is guaranteed under international law and by
virtually every constitutional bill of rights in the world. It is key to human development, dignity,
personal fulfilment and the search for truth, and a fundamental pre-requisite for democracy and
good governance. It facilitates free debate about and between competing political parties, enables
citizens to raise concerns with authorities and ensures that new policies and legislation may be
the subject of careful scrutiny. The quality of government is enhanced by free speech because it
helps to ensure that authorities are competent and honest and allows individuals to voice
concerns about and debate government action. Put differently, democratic values are under threat
when information and ideas are not permitted to flow freely. Freedom of expression is also
protected in regional human rights treaties, including the African Charter on Human and
People’s Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on
Human Rights Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD, 2014).

Although technically different from freedom of expression, Article 19 also protects the right to
hold opinions. Importantly, while freedom of expression may be restricted, the right to hold
opinions is absolute; the State may never legitimately limit this right. The right to freedom of
expression is broad and multifaceted in scope. First, as a human right, and as is clear from
Article 19, freedom of expression belongs to everyone. No distinctions are permitted, among
other things, on the basis of a person’s race, colour, nationality, sex, language, social origin or
property (CLD, 2014).

2.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK (TOLERANCE THEORY)

One principle following the First Amendment jurisprudence is the tolerance theory — the
confidence that upholding expressive freedoms will make people and organizations more
exposed to ideas than they would be otherwise. The derivation of this idea can be attributed to
John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1869). Mill’s essay is a justification of individual freedom
pertaining paternalism and of unrestricted expression over dogma and the tyranny of the
majority.
According to Mill, the unrestricted interchange of opinions should be cheered to encourage the
discovery of the truth and boost the mental aptitudes of individuals. In tolerating or approving
diverse opinions to counter prevailing opinion, Mill debated that these ideas may be right,
comprises part of the truth, or in effect be true themselves. Henceforth, toleration and deference
for a variety of perspectives is grounded in a practical calculus that emphasizes that we are all
more contented in permitting a multiplicity of ideas rather than in repressing them.

Lee Bollinger wrote a more up-to-date comprehension of Mill’s opinions in The Tolerant
Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech in America (1986 edition). Bollinger debates
from a viewpoint of tolerance in approval of defending extremist speech. For instance, tolerating
extreme speech is imperative since by being protected itself, it offers a defense for more
mainstream political dialogue. Toleration allegedly moderates racial and ethnic strains, reduces
the awareness that other people are threats, and inspires high opinion for the rights of others.
Toleration therefore aids to uphold a stable and open society but it likewise makes people
themselves exposed to innovative ideas and deferential of the rights of others.

Tolerance also proposes that the right to oppose public officials should be cheered, even if some
accurate errors saturate the comments, in order to endorse open and free review.

Tolerance theory appears more comprehensive in that it seems to describe the significance of
free expression by means of its status to mutually democracy and self-expression.

2.4 TWITTER IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s economy and also government have come to be progressively dependent on digital
media. Many noted how ironic it was when the government declared its bar on Twitter using a
tweet.

NetBlocks, which tracks internet governance, estimated that each day of the Twitter shutdown
will cost the Nigerian economy over 2 billion naira ($6 million US). Digital media are essential
for information exchange, marketing, customer service, and remote work, especially during
public health and safety emergencies. Shutdowns can slow commerce, cut productivity and
ultimately cost jobs. In the longer term, the ban – even if only brief – could seriously harm
Nigeria’s ability to attract investment to its otherwise-promising digital economy. Investors may
turn to markets without the threat of sudden regulatory disruptions to the digital economy (JEFF,
2021).

Twitter users constitute a minority of the Nigerian population and they are not representative of
the general public. A 2020 survey by the independent, Africa-based research organisation
Afrobarometer found that: 35% of Nigerians reported using some social media service to get
news at least a few times a week. Men were marginally more likely to use it than women – 39%
versus 31%. More young people used it – 46% of 18-25 years old, versus 8% for those over 65.
Rates of weekly access were higher for Nigerians who lived in urban areas (54%, versus 18% for
rural), had at least a secondary-level education (57%, versus 12% with a primary education or
lower) and had the lowest levels of lived poverty (51%, versus 25% for those with the highest
levels). Nevertheless, Nigerians more broadly are unlikely to take the ban quietly. Afrobarometer
research also shows that Nigerians, like most Africans, oppose government restrictions on media
generally. Those surveyed were roundly opposed to restrictions on digital media. More than
three-fifths (61%) said that internet and social media should be “unrestricted” versus only 23%
who agreed that “access should be regulated by the government. Nigerians were also particularly
fond of social media. Nearly two thirds (65%) of those who had heard of social media said the
technology’s impacts were more positive than negative. This rate is the highest among the 18
countries surveyed in 2019/20 (JEFF, 2021).

2.5 THE BAN OF TWITTER IN NIGERIA

On June 4, 2021, the federal government issued a press release suspending Twitter operations in
Nigeria. This happened after Twitter had removed the President’s tweet threatening violence
against separatist militia groups in Southern Nigeria. The Press Statement cited “the persistent
use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence,”
as the basis for the suspension. The announcement is unclear under which law the suspension
was ordered; nonetheless, the Attorney General/ Minister of Justice has threatened to prosecute
offenders who contravene the directive. In the statement, the Nigerian government also ordered
the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately start the process of licensing all
Over-The-Top (OTT) and social media operations in Nigeria. The NBC on June 6 directed all
broadcasting stations to suspend the use of their twitter handles in compliance with the executive
Ban. Similar instructions were issued by the National Communications Commission on June 5 to
all licensed telecommunications operators in Nigeria. The Press statement raises a number of
concerns from a human rights standpoint. In particular, there are significant implications for the
rights to freedom of expression and access to information, as well as the rights to association and
assembly online (Philip, 2021).

In the tweet, Buhari threatened to punish members of a secessionist movement in the country’s
south east. “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and
loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months,
who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand”. The government
cited “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s
corporate existence,” as reason for the ban that took effect almost immediately. Following the
ban however, the Nigerian government through the information minister questioned twitter’s
actions, labelling them as “very suspect”. He accused twitter of double standards, saying the
company had ignored what it considered to be violent messages from a separatist leader. “When
people were burning police stations and killing police men in Nigeria during the Endsars, for
Twitter it was about the right to protest, but when a similar thing happened on the capital it
became insurrection. Twitter may have its own rules, but it is not a universal rule, if Mr.
President anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned of a situation, he is free to express
such views… we are not going to be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will
do so to the best of our ability”. The ban came much to the displeasure of many Nigerians. This
is due to the fact that Nigeria being the most populous African country is widely believed to be
the largest market base for the social media platform with an estimated 39.6 million users.
According to a statement from the US based outfit: “We are deeply concerned by the blocking of
Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and open internet is an essential human right in modern
society”. In addition, the government ordered broadcasters to cease their "patronage" of the
platform. It labelled the broadcast stations' continued use of the technology as "unpatriotic."
Media and human rights activists decried the broadcast regulator's decision, calling it "illegal"
and an assault on press freedom, but major broadcast stations remained off Twitter in order to
comply with the order. Two months after the ban, the Nigerian government indicated that the
temporary ban on Twitter could be removed soon, with information minister Lai Mohammed
stating that negotiations with Twitter were still continuing and that many agreements had been
made with the social media platform. Many Nigerians, civic organizations, and members of the
foreign community have spoken out against the ban on Twitter. With the ban, Nigeria joined the
list of other countries that have banned or temporarily suspended Twitter, including China, Iran,
North Korea (Philip, 2021).

2.6 PRIOR EVENTS THAT MIGHT HAVE LED TO THE BAN OF TWITTER IN
NIGERIA

The Nigerian government alleged that Twitter has been used to destabilize "Nigeria's corporate
existence." The government further emphasized that Twitter was allowing "the spread of
religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages" that "could tear the countries apart.” In fact, the
Minister for Communications, Lai Mohammed, underscored Twitter's double standards in
Nigeria. According to him, “When people were burning police stations and killing policemen in
Nigeria during the recent EndSARS protests, for Twitter it was about the right to protest,” he
said. “But when a similar thing happened in the recent US Capitol invasion, it became
insurrection” (Ruth, 2021).

2020 EndSars protest: Towards the tail end of 2020 when Nigerians were protesting against
police brutality, one major platform that was effectively able to amplify the voice of Nigerians
all across the nation was the twitter app. Experts however believed that Nigerian government
was not particularly happy with the development. The failed Social Media bill: President Buhari
has been criticised way back from his first tenure in office for being obsessed with digital
dictatorship using social media as a springboard (Philip, 2021).

2.7 SOCIAL MEDIA

According to Manning (2014), social media is the term often used to refer to new forms of media
that involve interactive participation. Often the development of media is divided into two
different ages, the broadcast age and the interactive age. In the broadcast age, media were almost
exclusively centralized where one entity—such as a radio or television station, newspaper
company, or a movie production studio—distributed messages to many people. Feedback to
media outlets was often indirect, delayed, and impersonal. Mediated communication between
individuals typically happened on a much smaller level, usually via personal letters, telephone
calls, or sometimes on a slightly larger scale through means such as photocopied family
newsletters.

Shishir Tiwari and Gitanjali Ghosh (2018) broadly categorize social media into the following
categories:

1. Social networking

Social networking is an online service that enables its users to create virtual networks with
likeminded people. It offers facilities such as chat, instant messaging, photo sharing, video
sharing, updates etc. The most popular are Facebook and LinkedIn.

2. Blogs

Blogs are descriptive content created and maintained by individual users and may contain text,
photos and links to other websites. The interactive feature of blogs is the ability of readers to
leave comments and the comment trail can be followed.

3. Micro blogs

Micro blogs are similar to blogs with a typical restriction of 140 characters or less, which allows
users to write and share content. Twitter is a micro blogging site that enables its users to send
and read ‘tweets’.

4. Vlogs and Video Sharing sites

Video blogs (Vlogs) are blogging sites that mainly use video as the main form of content
supported by text. You Tube is the world’s largest video sharing site. You Tube is a video live
casting and video sharing site where users can view, upload, share videos and even leave
comments.

5. Wikis

Wiki is a collaborative website that allows multiple users to create and update pages on
particular or interlinked subjects. While a single page is referred to as ‘wiki page’, the entire
related content on that topic is called a ‘Wiki’. These multiple pages are linked through
hyperlinks and allow users to interact in a complex and non- linear manner.

6. Social Bookmarking

These services allow one to save, organize and manage links to various websites and resources
around the internet. Interaction is by tagging websites and searching through websites
bookmarked by other people. The most popular are Delicious and Stumble Upon.

7. Social News

These services allow one to post various news items or links to outside articles. Interaction takes
place by voting for the items and commenting on them. Voting is the core aspect as the items
that get the most votes are prominently displayed. The most popular are Digg, Reddit and
Propeller.

8. Media Sharing

These services allow one to upload and share photos or videos. Interaction is by sharing and
commenting on user submissions. The most popular are YouTube and Flickr.

There can be overlap among the above mentioned types of social media. For instance, Facebook
has micro blogging features with their ‘status update’. Also, Flickr and YouTube have comment
systems similar to that of blogs.

Twitter and other social networking sites are almost universal structures in modern culture. Even
those who decide not to create an online profile and join will regularly hear from others
information gotten from such social sites. A crucial distinctive feature that makes a social
networking platform is the fellow list of people that one connects with, typically based on
family, friendship, work relations, or even weak tie affiliations. Originally social networking
sites were great ways to meet new people, and although that is still a possibility many social
networking sites now discourage people from adding connections they do not know. The public
nature of information posted to social networking sites often allow a space for social or political
viewpoints to be displayed, although research suggests much of this political activity reinforces
pre-existing beliefs – especially because people tend to be online friends with those that are most
like them (Manning, 2014).
Undeniably, social media sites such as Twitter have had a substantial influence on democracy,
social movements, and politics, businesses, international relations and economies around the
globe in recent years.

2.7.1 THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

During the past decade, there has been an increasing reliance on social media for news and
political information. Although television is still the most popular source for news, social media
surpassed print newspapers in 2017 in percent of the population using the platform for news,
with the gap widening in 2018 (Shearer, 2018). Nearly two-thirds of adults in the U.S. get their
news from social media (Shearer, 2017).

Digital media like Twitter are essential for information exchange, marketing customer services
and remote work, especially during public health and safety emergencies like the COVID-19
pandemic. The suspension can slow commerce, cut productivity and ultimately cost jobs (Iyatse
and Adepetun, 2021)

Social media platforms present a new kind of speech outlet, distinct from the way that traditional
media functioned in the predigital age. The complex design of social media sites like Facebook
use algorithms to determine what content to amplify and what to suppress, but in contrast to
traditional media, these platforms are not legally responsible for monitoring the content of
speech that users post or promote. Traditional news outlets are liable for any defamatory material
that they publish, but since social media are not considered publishers, they are exempt from this
accountability (John and Matthias, 2021).
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