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Chinese Cyber Sovereignty & Nigeria’s #Twitterban

The Nigerian government justified the banning of Twitter on the basis of protecting the country's national interest, security, and sovereignty. Although the move was done for purely domestic political reasons, the government's defense is strikingly similar to the language that China ...

Report: Asian, African Countries Block Access to Social Media More Than Any Other Regions

Nigeria's decision to ban Twitter last week is just the latest example of how access to social media platforms in Africa is narrowing, according to a new report by the Virtual Private Network company Surf Shark. They report that 30 countries across the continent have ...

Is the Nigerian Twitter Ban Similar to China’s Restrictions on Foreign Social Media Platforms? Yes… and No.

Lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is adamant that Nigeria's recent crackdown on Twitter is nothing at all like what authoritarian governments in other parts of the world restrict access to social media platforms. “I do not agree," he said in a story that is widely circulating today on ...

Report: Nigerian Government In Contact With Chinese Cyber Authorities Over How to Build New Internet Firewall

Less than 24 hours after the Nigerian government announced that it would impose a ban on Twitter, officials in President Muhammadu Buhari's office reportedly made contact with the  Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to discuss how to implement a Chinese-style firewall in Nigeria, according to ...

Nigeria’s Twitter Ban is a Big Win For China

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 ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...