Service blocking
From June 4, 2021 to January 13, 2022, the Nigerian government officially banned Twitter. The ban occurred after Twitter deleted tweets made by the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari. The ban was lifted in January 2022 after Twitter agreed to "establish an office in the country, pay taxes there, appoint a representative and 'act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history.'"
- Total Duration 223 days
Nigeria
- Population
- 232,679,478
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free
Local impact
From June 4, 2021 to January 13, 2022, the Nigerian government officially banned Twitter. The ban occurred after Twitter deleted tweets made by the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari. The ban was lifted in January 2022 after Twitter agreed to "establish an office in the country, pay taxes there, appoint a representative and 'act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history.'"
Related documentation
The government of Nigeria issued their press release banning Twitter rather ironically... on Twitter:
Other supporting information
OONI data collected from Nigeria shows that access to Twitter was blocked for 7 months, between 5th June 2021 to 12th January 2022, as illustrated below.
Chart: OONI Probe testing of Twitter on several networks in Nigeria between 1st June 2021 to 5th February 2022 (source: OONI MAT).
The above chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of twitter.com on several networks in Nigeria between 1st June 2021 to 5th February 2022. Within this date range, it is evident that the testing of twitter.com always presented anomalies between 5th June 2021 (when twitter.com was first tested within this period) to 12th January 2022, providing a strong signal of Twitter blocking. From 13th January 2022 onwards, we observe that Twitter was always found accessible thereafter, suggesting that the Twitter block was lifted on that day. The timing of both the block and unblocking of Twitter corroborates the timing independently reported by media outlets.
Between June 2021 to January 2022, twitter.com was tested on 11 networks in Nigeria, and presented signs of blocking on all 11 networks. The networks which received the largest testing coverage – and which presented the largest volume of anomalies – are shared through the chart below.
Chart: Networks in Nigeria which received the largest OONI Probe testing coverage of twitter.com and which presented the largest volume of anomalies between 1st June 2021 to 5th February 2022 (source: OONI MAT).
From the above chart, it is evident that twitter.com was tested the most on MTN (AS29465), where it also presented the most signs of blocking.
When inspecting the raw data of anomalous measurements collected from the testing of Twitter, we can see that the measurements consistently presented TCP/IP anomalies, suggesting that access to twitter.com was blocked by means of IP blocking. The relevant raw data shows that the OONI Probe experiments resulted in generic timeout errors, as attempts to connect to the resolved Twitter IPs were unsuccessful.
Image: OONI measurement from the testing of twitter.com on AS29465 in Nigeria on 11th January 2022 (source: OONI data).
Overall, OONI data provides a strong signal of Twitter blocking in Nigeria during the reported 7-month ban because:
- All measurements (collected from 11 networks) present anomalies between 5th June 2021 to 12th January 2022 (the reported timing of the block), while all measurements thereafter are successful (when the block was reportedly lifted);
All anomalous measurements consistently present the same TCP/IP anomalies, strongly suggesting IP blocking of Twitter.