Twitter Finally Speaks On President Buhari’s Recent Tweets

Despite Nigerians’ demand for his account to be suspended on Tuesday, Twitter maintains President Muhammadu Buhari‘s “genocidal” message did not breach its rules.

Mr Buhari’s post reacting to the demolition of 42 Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities across Nigeria, mainly in the South-East, sparked uproar on the microblogging platform.

The president promised that those guilty for the devastation would “soon be shocked out of their minds.”

“Many of those misbehaving now are too young to be aware of the havoc and deaths that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War,” he continued. Those of us who spent 30 months in the fields and lived through the conflict will speak to them in their own language.”

Critics lambasted the president for failing to fix the country’s long-running security problems while also threatening to unleash bloodshed akin to that which the Igbos experienced at the hands of federal government-controlled military during the civil war.

Despite considerable criticism that followed the tweet, accusing the president of declaring a genocidal war on the Igbos, Twitter confirmed in a statement that Mr Buhari did not break its guidelines.

“We’re writing to let you know that, after examining the available information, we didn’t detect a breach of our rules in the content you reported,” the firm wrote after numerous Nigerians complained about the president’s post and demanded that he be suspended from the platform.

“We appreciate that you let us know what happened,” Twitter said, adding that “we encourage you to call out again in the future if you identify any possible violations.”

The social media network, which is known for using harsh measures to enforce its rules, has suspended multiple accounts for dehumanization and content that could incite violence.

It blocked the account of China’s US embassy in January this year because of a post it deemed “dehumanizing.”

On January 7, a social media post supported China’s policy toward Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

According to the account, Uighur women are no longer “baby creating robots,” citing a China Daily survey.

Following that, Twitter took down the tweet and replaced it with a notice that it was no longer available because it violates its policy prohibiting “the dehumanization of a group of individuals based on their religion, caste, age, handicap, serious disease, national origin, race, or ethnicity.”