Trump praises Nigeria banning Twitter and hints he wishes he’d done the SAME when he was president
DONALD Trump lauded Nigeria for banning Twitter in the country and expressed remorse for not thinking of doing the same – but said he’ll get another chance in a potential 2024 run.
“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who [sic] just banned Twitter because they banned their President,” Trump said on Tuesday.
“More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech – all voices should be heard,” the former president went on.
“In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil?”
During his tirade against the social media company, Trump even joked he might get the chance to ban the platform should he run for office again in 2024.
“Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?”
Trump incorrectly declared Twitter had banned the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was banned, when in fact, the platform has merely removed a tweet by Buhari seen as threatening separatist movements.
Trump also mistook Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The former president was banned on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other companies following what many believe to have been the president’s rhetoric that incited attacks on the nation’s Capitol on January 6.
Trump would often tweet without editing his thought process to his 88.7 million followers, as he did so on January 6, telling his supporters to “fight like hell.”
Following his remarks, almost all social media platforms banned the president from their services.
Twitter banned Buhari’s tweet for violating its service terms for referencing violence.
The Nigerian president referenced the bloody civil war in the 1960s that saw over a million Nigerians killed.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat’ the secessionists ‘in the language they understand,” read Buhari’s tweet.
Buhari was a military office during the war.
Twitter removed the tweet for violating its policies against “abusive behavior.”
Following the company’s move, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information and Culture tweeted it would be banning the social media across the country.
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“The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria,” the tweet read.
In response, Twitter said: “We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society,”
“We will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate and connect with the world. #KeepitOn.”