Anthony Russell Tatum, a shareholder in X, has made it known that then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime lifted the months-long ban on X, formerly Twitter, without any dialogue with the platform’s executives as falsely claimed by the Nigerian government two years ago.
According to Tatum, the lies permitted to run unchecked by Twitter hampered free speech and had devastating effects on the microblogging site’s shareholders.
In a 119-page-suit filed in Pender County, North Carolina, U.S.A against X and its owner, Elon Musk, Tatum accused the company, based on its erstwhile management’s actions, of hiding relevant information from shareholders and general recklessness, stating its alleged failure to proactively reveal take-down requests of unflattering tweets from foreign governments that are not receptive to free speech.
Summons for the matter were issued in January 2024 against the parties.
Recall that in June 2021, Lai Mohammed, then information minister, announced a Twitter ban after the site brought down Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet for inciting violence, which was deemed a violation of Twitter policy and guidelines.
Angered by the deletion, Buhari banned Twitter and ordered all internet service providers in Nigeria to restrict people living in the country from accessing the microblogging site.
In January 2022, Buhari’s government reversed the ban, which it said was necessary after several negotiations with executives of Twitter and the site’s decision to abide by certain rules.
The claims were disputed by Peiter Zatko, a former Twitter employee, in a whistleblower report to the U.S. Congress that there were no such dialogues. His report made the centre of a lawsuit filed in the United States recently.
Tatum relied on the whistleblower complaint by Peiter Zatko, a former vice-president (security) at Twitter, to support his argument against X and its owner.
Though Musk was not responsible for the accusations, it was the company he bought, hence, the liability was his to take.
When Lai Mohammed got wind of the whistleblower’s claims in 2022 and sought to debunk them at a press briefing in Abuja in December 2022, he insisted that the Nigerian government indeed negotiated with Twitter to reverse the ban.
He said: “The back-and-forth negotiation culminated in a series of agreements that paved the way for the lifting of the Twitter suspension in January this year (2022).”
Buhari’s regime banned Twitter in June 2021 and then falsely claimed to be in negotiations with Twitter executives. According to taturn’s allegation, the failure of Twitter to correct the false record on many reported non-existent discussions with the Nigerian government permitted Nigeria to negotiate unilaterally through the media and dictate unfavourable terms for a final resolution.
He stated that the decision of Twitter to refrain from correcting misinformation about Twitter’s proposed negotiations with the Nigerian government directly harmed Twitter shareholders.
In the suit, Tatum said Twitter’s inaction did not only egg on the Buhari regime to control and circulate a false narrative, but also allowed the Nigerian government to impose various conditions that harmed free expression rights and democratic accountability for Nigerian citizens on the platform.
