The Cable
Twitter has suspended the accounts of several top Nigerian influencers for allegedly “violating its rules.”
The accounts suspended include that of A
degoke Pamilerin, a social media influencer and PR specialist, who has over 488,000 followers.
Other affected influencers are Danny Walter, Tife, Volqx, Lamar, Uncle Mohamz, Valhalla, Four-eyed Edo Boy, Mbah and Bisi.
When TheCable Lifestyle checked the accounts on Tuesday, only a blank page appeared with a terse note stating: “Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter rules.”
While it remains unclear which rules were violated, the social media giant had defined violation to include actions such as “violence, harassment and other similar types of behavior that discourage people from expressing themselves, and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation.”
Some users — citing unverified reports — however linked the suspension to the influencers’ involvement in a “coordinated Twitter manipulation campaign.”
Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant on digital/new media to President Muhammadu Buhari, said the sanction might not be unconnected to a campaign linked to a “wanted man.”
“Twitter has just suspended a number of high-profile Nigerian ‘influencer’ accounts. No reasons given. It appears (yes, consider this speculative) that these accounts were involved in a coordinated Twitter manipulation campaign linked to a wanted man,” he wrote.
Tolu Ogunlesi, MON on X (formerly Twitter): “Twitter has just suspended a number of high-profile Nigerian ‘influencer’ accounts. No reasons given. It appears (yes, consider this speculative) that these accounts were involved in a coordinated Twitter manipulation campaign linked to a wanted man. pic.twitter.com/t6L02jerIC / X”
Twitter has just suspended a number of high-profile Nigerian ‘influencer’ accounts. No reasons given. It appears (yes, consider this speculative) that these accounts were involved in a coordinated Twitter manipulation campaign linked to a wanted man. pic.twitter.com/t6L02jerIC
Other users also linked the suspension to the influencers’ backing of a campaign for Alex Saab, a special envoy of Venezuela, who was detained by authorities in Cape Verde — despite a court order.
The envoy was arrested on June 12, 2020, after his private jet made a stopover in Cape Verde on his way to Iran for a humanitarian mission on behalf of the Venezuelan government.
The US was said to have put pressure on Cape Verde to arrest Saab, with plans of extraditing him to face corruption charges.
TheCable Lifestyle can not independently verify the above claims as efforts to reach Pamilerin and the other affected influencers did not materialise — as of the time of this report.
This Story First Appeared At The Cable
