Chinese officials are no doubt celebrating Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision late last week to ban Twitter.  The move marked the most important endorsement in Africa to date of Beijing’s long-held view on “internet sovereignty.”

The Chinese have never accepted the U.S.-led premise of a “free and open internet” that was under the governance of mostly Western-controlled multilateral organizations like ICANN. Instead, Beijing promoted the concept of “internet sovereignty” as a rival governance model.