Nigeria asks Google to restrict specific groups from using its products

Last week, Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s information minister, told Google executives in Abuja that certain groups, some of which the government had declared illegal, should no longer be allowed to use Google platforms. He maintained that some of these groups had been designated as terrorists, putting national security at risk.

“Channels and e-mails containing the names of banned groups and their affiliates should not be allowed on Google platforms,” Mohammed stated.

Notably, the Nigerian government has been on an ambitious mission to control the country’s technology-enabled social conversations in recent years. Before the Twitter ban, an attempted social media bill sought to give the Nigerian government control over all social media conversations. Citizens and corporate organizations were outraged by the bill, officially known as the ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and for Other Related Matters Bill 2019’.

Again, in July 2022, the Nigerian government used the National Information Technology Development Agency to launch another regulatory spear (NITDA). Nigerians were again disappointed when the agency released a draft of a “code of practice” to regulate online conversations.

This time, however, it appears that Nigeria’s attempt to regulate Google is more focused on the online activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The federal government has labeled the group, which is advocating for the secession of Nigeria’s south-east, as “terrorists.”

According to the minister, the government was particularly interested in limiting IPOB’s online activity, claiming that the regulatory attempt arose from a desire to protect internet users from the negative effects of social media, particularly as the 2023 presidential election approaches.

Google responded to the minister’s demands through its Sub-Saharan African director for government affairs and public policy, Charles Murito, by claiming that the company already has measures to address the government’s concerns.

Google, however, did not say whether it would block the groups named by Mohammed. Instead, it expressed sympathy for the government’s concerns, stating that Google platforms should not be used for harmful purposes.

“We share the same goals and objectives,” Murito said in a post. “We do not want our platform to be used for ill purposes.”