Anti-Chinese Campaign on Nigerian Twitter Raises Questions

An example of an anti-China tweet circulating on Nigerian Twitter. The same image is used repeatedly by different users. Image via @ana_petrov1

Readers following West Africa-China relations will know that unhappiness about Chinese involvement in small-scale mining is ongoing, especially in Ghana. However, a new campaign on Nigerian Twitter under the tag #STOPCHINESEILLEGALMINING is raising all kinds of questions.

First, a significant number of the tweeters seem to be Russian or Indian rather than Nigerian. Second, the same set of images appears repeatedly, and when original Nigerian photos are used, they’re not recent.

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by Eric Olander

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