100 days after Nigeria banned Twitter, the microblogging platform has lost about 23.44 per cent out of its 25.52 per cent market share before the ban. This is as other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram gain massively from Twitter’s losses. According to Statcounter, a global social media statistics platform, as of May 2021, Twitter had a market share of 25.52 per cent in Nigeria, but this has drastically reduced to 2.8 per cent as at August 2021.
This is as Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and governance of the Internet, said since the ban, the country’s economy has lost over ₦217 billion. The platform said it relied on the booking institution method which uses development indicators, approximated digital economy extent of 0.05 and classic free app GDP impact technique to arrive at its conclusion.
But, the economy is largely driven by small businesses and those who have incorporated Twitter into their operations are suffering from the ban.
According to the president of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMs), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, many small businesses have collapsed and there are huge job losses in the country.
Nigeria’s president, President Muhammadu Buhari said the ban would be reversed after having reached an agreement with the social media company on a number of issues. But, there are no developments in that light and, it seems the ban will continue until the end of the year.
Businesses, especially Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) and governments at different levels continue to bear the brunt of the suspension as the economy continues to take a hit.
In its report, NetBlocks revealed that each hour of the suspension costs Nigeria $250,000 ( ₦102.5 million), bringing the daily loss to ₦2.46 billion.
“Many small businesses have collapsed and there are huge job losses after 100 days. We appeal to the government to have a rethink.
“With the COVID-19 Delta variant now escalating in the country, the government should not deprive people of access to social media, especially those who get their daily information from the platform. Some peoples’ lives are practically online, so, the government should not kill that space.
“We appeal to them to bring Twitter back as fast as possible so that the economy can bounce back as well,” Ogunbanjo says.
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