Twitter Blocks Over Half a Million Users for ‘Terror’ Ties

Hamilton Nwosa
Writer

Ad

Presidency Accuses US Lawmakers of Weaponizing ‘Christian Genocide’ Claims Over Nigeria’s Gaza Stance

By Abiola Olawale The Nigerian Presidency has accused influential United States lawmakers of allegedly fabricating and amplifying claims of a "Christian genocide" in Nigeria as retaliation for the country's criticism of Israel's military actions in Gaza. This is as Daniel Bwala, special adviser to the president on policy communication, dismissed the allegations as "Western propaganda"…

[PHOTOS] Peter Obi Embarks on Spiritual Quest in Rome, Seeks Divine Intervention for Nigeria

By Abiola Olawale Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, visited Rome, Italy to pray for Nigeria. Joined by his wife, Margaret, Obi, a two-term governor of Anambra State, said he undertook a sacred pilgrimage to Rome during the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year. He said he prayed for Nigeria's healing, peace, and responsible leadership.…

SERAP Writes Newly Nominated INEC Chair, Demands Prosecution of Electoral Offenders

By Abiola Olawale The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Professor Joash Amupitan, President Bola Tinubu's nominee for the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to launch swift prosecutions against politicians and their sponsors implicated in grave electoral offenses. SERAP's letter, dated October 11, 2025, and signed by Deputy Director…

Ad

Social media giant Twitter announced it has suspended 636,248 accounts since the middle of 2015 as the company steps up efforts to counter “promotion of terrorism” around the world.

In its latest transparency report published on Tuesday, the company said 376,890 accounts were shut down in the last six months of 2016.

The move comes as social networks are under pressure from governments around the world to use technology tools to lock out individuals promoting religious violence, and others who use the platforms to recruit and launch attacks.

The microblogging platform also announced the FBI had informed the company it was no longer under a “gag order” that prevented the disclosure of five cases involving “national security letters” – special requests from the US law enforcement agency in national security cases.

As a result, Twitter was able to inform the affected users of the FBI requests.

“As we continue to push for more transparency in how we can speak about national security requests, we will update this new section in future transparency reports,” Twitter said.

The San Francisco-based company also announced the number of government requests for user data rose seven percent from the prior six-month period.

‘Legal removals’

Another section of the transparency report was devoted to “legal removals”, or requests to remove content from verified journalists and other media outlets.

“Given the concerning global trend of various governments cracking down on press freedom, we want to shine a brighter light on these requests,” Twitter said.

It received 88 legal requests from around the world to remove content posted by verified journalists or news outlets, but did not take any action on the majority “with limited exceptions in Germany and Turkey”, which accounted for 88 percent of such requests.

“For example, we were compelled to withhold tweets sharing graphic imagery following terror attacks in Turkey in response to a court order,” Twitter said.

Twitter, which is pressured by certain governments to remove “hate speech” also disclosed for the first time a partnership with a third-party research group called Lumen to catalog any information removed.

Twitter said it began the agreement with Lumen in 2010.

“Unless we are prevented from doing so, when we withhold content in a certain country, Twitter will continue to provide a copy of the request to Lumen so anyone can see what type of content was removed and who made the request,” the company said.

Ad

Unlocking Opportunities in the Gulf of Guinea during UNGA80
X whatsapp