IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA GAGGING IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES: LESSONS FROM THE TWITTER EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Social media reaches a vast number of people, so it is a mass media tool, which can be used to perpetuate good or evil. Is the state to have reins over what shows up on social media or what does not. To gag is to stop up the mouth of (a person) by putting something in it, thus preventing speech, shouts, etc. to restrain by force or authority from freedom of speech. On June 5, 2021, the social media platform, “twitter” was banned restricting its full operation in the country. The major objective of this paper is to dissect the impact of gagging twitter on our daily lives. This paper is a qualitative study and study participants were sampled through snowballing; method of analysis was through content analysis. Social media has most importantly allowed us to engage with first-hand accounts of those undergoing human rights crises. Social media has been the crux of increased activism, giving depth and humanity to previous impersonal news of human rights violations. It was discovered that societies with an appreciable level of freedom of the internet (there is no such society with totally free internet space); tend to record steadier economic growth, as 3 days after the ban, it was reported that the ban has cost the country over 6 billion Naira and it also contributes to the worsening unemployment in the country. It is recommended that social media can be put to good work, it is a peace agent and can bring people together but can also be a dividing tool, so there should be legal contractual coverage, agreement, restriction and guidance of the use of social media.