Weekly Geopolitical Report – Nigeria’s Conflict with Biafra and Social Media (July 19, 2021)
by Thomas Wash | PDF
On June 2, Twitter (TWTR, $61.72) removed a tweet posted by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that vaguely threatened Biafran separatists. Buhari’s tweet appeared to be in response to a series of attacks against Nigerian security forces and police officers. In any case, Buhari has become the latest high-level political leader to have his tweet removed by Twitter. The move comes just months after former U.S. President Donald Trump was permanently banned from the platform. In this article, we explore Nigeria’s current problems in Biafra and the government’s response. We also show how the situation reflects the growing friction between social media companies and governments all over the world. We end with a discussion of the ramifications for investors.