Network Restriction To Twitter Platform: A Bridge To Fundamental Rights Of Nigerian Citizens (A Case Study Of Twitter Ban)

Network Restriction To Twitter Platform: A Bridge To Fundamental Rights Of Nigerian Citizens (A Case Study Of Twitter Ban)

Chapter One

Preface

Background of the study

The interrelated freedoms of communication, expression and association are at the heart of any free, popular society grounded on the rule oflaw.Freedom of expression, the free inflow of information, and freedom and pluralism of the media have internationally been conceded as mortal rights in thepost-Second World War intergovernmental instruments the Universal Declaration of Human Rights( UDHR, 1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights( ICCPR, 1966). In both the UDHR and the ICCPR, Article 19 makes this commitment. The 2011 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression is a strong statement of the significance of freedom of expression on the Internet. The Rapporteur emphasizes the need for clear rules, in discrepancy with the arbitrariness he observes moment, which allows for adding surveillance and monitoring of dispatches( Douwe Korff( 2012) cited in UN recaptured( 2021).

Restrictions and regulations must be in agreement with Council of Europe norms, and in particular the ECHR and the case law of the Strasbourg Court concerning the narrow set of restrictions on freedom of expression necessary in a popular society. Also, any hindrance with the right to communicate, express views or assemble must be grounded on rules that are clear, specific and accessible.

It’s no secret that the Internet and social media have grown in significance in politicalactivities.Blogging, videotape- sharing, and twittering were critical in 2011 political events in North Africa and the MiddleEast.They’re important to mortal rights protectors far and wide. But the use of these new technologies to assert old freedoms has been met with suppression by some governments. Government officers decreasingly communicate authors or websites to apply pressure for content to be removed, with pitfalls of legal action, pullout of contracts or licences and outright bans indeed where companies are grounded in overseasjurisdictions.Governments also encourage their sympathizers to complain to hosting companies about stoner- generated content.

The most extreme styles of suppressing Internet communication have included simply cutting off all Internet access( Egypt, January 2011, and Syria at the time of jotting), or indeed creating a fully state- controlledmini-Net( supposedly planned by Iran). In other cases, similar as Bahrain, governments have used their control over the original Internet structures to designedly decelerate down connection pets, in particular at review services, hospices and homes. Thailand, Burma, China and Iran have tried to manipulate online conversations through organizedpro-state cessions. China has dragooned hunt machines to distort hunt results. In several countries, bloggers and Internet activists have been subordinated to pitfalls and physical attacks. Following screams in several British metropolises, the government proposed taking powers to shut down social networking spots during unborn recurrences.

These and other exemplifications represent several occasions when the government assessed network restrictions on its citizens’ access to social networking spots, similar as the current Twitter ban blazoned by the government inNigeria.These pressures raise mortal rights enterprises, including whether companies should be needed to repel pressure in order to cover the mortal rights of their druggies.

Statement of the problem

Blogging, videotape- participating and twittering are all pivotal to the political events of ultramodern republic. They’re important to mortal rights protectors far and wide. But the use of these new technologies to assert old freedoms has been met with suppression by some governments. A recent study of 37 countries by Freedom House cites adding website blocking and filtering, content manipulation, attacks on and imprisonment of bloggers, discipline of ordinary druggies, cyber attacks and compulsion of website possessors to remove content, in attempts by authoritarian countries to reduce political opposition. It suggests that Internet restrictions around the globe are incompletely a response to the exploding fashionability, and significant part in political and social activism, of spots like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

On June 4, the Nigerian government blazoned that it had suspended Twitter’s operations in the country. The advertisement came two days after the social media company removed a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, in which Buhari issued a thinly veiled trouble to the secessionist groups in the southeast” to treat them in the language they understand.” Since publicizing the ban, the government has issued directives to civil prosecutors to arrest anyone still using Twitter — and ordered Internet providers to block access to the platform. Following some original confusion about whether Twitter was accessible, it appears that utmost Nigerians are no longer suitable to pierce the platform as ofmid-June. According to the Social- Media- Poll- Report( 2020), further than 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet and social networking spots and nearly 40 million of them have a Twitter account — 20 of the population. The Twitter ban is only the rearmost illustration of governments using their control over the Internet and other digital technologies to eavesdrop , bowdlerize and suppress their people.

therefore, the barring of Twitter in Nigeria always raises enterprises among its citizens about the violation of their abecedarian mortal rights to free expression, communication, and mediaassociation.As a result, this study seeks to probe network restrictions on the Twitter platform as a ground to Nigerian citizens’ abecedarian rights( a case study of the Twitter ban).

Ideal Of The Study

The main ideal of the study is to examine network restriction to twitter platform a ground to abecedarian rights of Nigerian citizens. Specifically the study seeks

To examine the if social networking similar as twitter promoted Nigerians ’ freedom of communication and association.

To probe if government network restriction to twitter platform will affects citizens freedom of communication and association.

To determine if the Nigeria Government Twitter ban is a ground to the abecedarian mortal rights of her citizens.

Exploration Suppositions

The exploration is guided by the following suppositions

HO1 Government network restriction to twitter platform won’t affects citizens freedom of communication and association.

H1 Government network restriction to twitter platform will affects citizens freedom of communication and association.

HO2 Nigeria Government Twitter ban is no ground to the abecedarian mortal rights of her citizens

H1 Nigeria Government Twitter ban is a ground to the abecedarian mortal rights of her citizens.

Significance of the study

The findings from this study will be applicable to all the arms of the government and to the citizens of Nigeria. Theoretically and empirically, the study will enlighten the arms of the government, especially the bar, on the need tore-assess the current restriction/ ban on the Twitter platform, having in mind that internet freedom is important. As a result, all restrictions must be grounded on clear, specific, and fluently accessible enactmentlaw.Those nonsupervisory authorities applying the laws confining freedom of expression on social media must be entirely independent, responsible and with acceptable safeguards in place to avoid arbitrariness. likewise, the study will contribute to the body of knowledge, serve as a reference material, and be extremely salutary to scholars and experimenters who may be interested in gathering or conducting studies related to the content under study.

Compass Of The Study

The compass of this study borders on the network restriction to twitter platform a ground to abecedarian mortal rights of Nigeria Citizens. The study is still limited to twitter druggies in Abuja.

Limitation of the study

The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this exploration

fiscal constraint – inadequate fund tends to stymie the effectiveness of the experimenter in sourcing for the applicable accoutrements , literature or information and in the process of data collection( internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint – The experimenter will contemporaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This accordingly will cut down on the time devoted for the exploration work.

Description Of Terms

Twitter Twitter is an Americanmicro-blogging and social networking service on which druggies post and interact with dispatches known as” tweets”. Registered druggies can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unrecorded druggies can only read them.

Twitter Ban this is the authoritative pause in the operation of twitter as commanded by the Civil government of Nigeria on June 5th 2021 until the possessors of the social network meet the recently established demand given to them by the government of Nigeria.

Network restriction A confined network is where NAP sends a computer that needs remediation services or to block access to the private network until remediation can take place.

mortal Right mortal rights are moral principles or morals for certain norms of mortal geste and are regularly defended in external and transnational law.

Reference

CNN( 2021) Nigeria bans Twitter after company deletes President Buhari’s tweet”.. recaptured 5 June 2021.

Douwe Korff( 2012) Social Media And Human Rights; Issue Discussion Paper, CommDH( 2012) 8 Original interpretation recaptured from https//rm.coe.int/16806da579_2021

Social- Media- Poll- Report( 2020) 2020 Global Social Media Market Survey report recaptured from google hunt.

Washington Post.( 2021)” Nigeria suspends Twitter after the social media platform freezes chairman’s account”. ISSN 0190- 8286. recaptured 5 June 2021.