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Twitter has returned but no hope for crypto

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Belemo
@belemo
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3 min read

If you weren't aware because I've been actively tweeting for months now, there was a nationwide ban on using the application. So, for nearly 222 days, anybody living in Nigeria had to use a VPN service to access Twitter.

The restriction of access was a result of what the President deemed as a potentially harmful influence on the country, citing the 2020 protests as an example.

In our dictator in chief's mind, any protest against his tyranny is terrorism. Yet terrorists roam the country, causing harm to the lives and property of millions.

Anyway, after the protests in 2020, the president was really spooked. He realised that Twitter offers a place for people to band together and oppose tyranny.

There was also the time when the President put out a tweet and millions of Nigerians reported it, so Twitter deleted it. It was a small and sweet victory against a man that regularly makes hate speeches.

Of course, the politicians don't like that and just as expected, Twitter was banned. So to access Twitter, we all needed VPN services.

The return

The government placed a number of demands on Twitter, including requesting a local office and some shit about paying tax.

The demands were outrageous and of course, would never be met. They want to force Twitter to have a physical office in the country, so they can bully them and make them pay tax.

Naturally, Twitter didn't meet the demands, so the ban continued. Yet, in an expected twist, the ban was lifted some days ago.

One of the President's spokesmen talked some shit about the reason behind the ban being lifted. He made it sound like it was because the demands were met or like Nigerians had learnt a lesson.

The reality though is much more sinister. The truth is that this current president got to power through propaganda on social media.

Well, the president combined the propaganda with some good old fashion violence. Now he wants Twitter back because, well, election time is approaching.

Reinstating Twitter back into the country is an opportunity for the president to parade his cohorts as the next president. In fact, they've already started washing profiles and spreading their usual lies on Twitter, only a few seconds after removing the ban.

No word about Crypto

The situation with crypto is similar but somewhat different. The hate for crypto runs far deeper than their hate of free speech.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like Twitter is the premium place for free speech. The voices of millions getting silenced on Twitter is deafening. However, in very obvious issues like the one against our government, picking a side was easy.

Cryptocurrencies are still facing some level of prejudice from the Nigerian government. There's not been any word about removing the restrictions placed on financial institutions.

At the time of writing, cryptocurrencies offer some respite for millions of citizens in Nigeria. At the time of writing, Nigeria is also one of the poorest countries in the world, with debt running into trillions of naira.

So, the cryptocurrency sanctions really affected us. To survive, we resorted to using P2P transactions to stem the gap.

THe ban only made cryptocurrencies more popular in the country. Everyone knows that the government only bans things that have the potential of making life better for the citizens.

In summary

Twitter ban was lifted but that took nothing away from the fact that our president could just simply block out the voices of the people. Luckily, VPN services still existed, so we were still able to share through Twitter.

This ban also shows the disadvantage of web 2 platforms like Twitter. It is simply too easy for your voice to be stifled there.

Hive has various front-ends with differing uses that enable us to share our lives and experiences with the world. It is uncensorable and completely insulated from any sort of government influence.

Cryptocurrency trading on the other hand still suffers because there's no physical entity to bully. They also know that crypto has the potential to unlock minds, offer financial freedom, and educate the populace.

The fight against free speech and crypto will never end. However, we have Hive that offers both and as the days go by, there will be more people keying into the future, regardless of what any government says.

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