Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday came out in support of the Nigerian government’s decision to block access to Twitter and called on more nations to follow suit.
“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President,” Trump said in a statement.
“More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech—all voices should be heard.
“In the meantime,” the former president continued, “competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil? Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?”
Nigeria last Friday, “suspended indefinitely” operations of the microblogging platform due to its use for “activities that are capable of undermining its corporate existence.”
Earlier last week, the social media giant, deleted a tweet by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that appeared to threaten secessionist groups attacking security officers and burning government institutions.
In addition to deleting the tweet as violating its “abusive behavior” policy, Twitter suspended Buhari’s account for 12 hours.
Trump himself received a permanent ban from Twitter in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Facebook announced Friday that its own ban on the former president would remain in place until at least Jan. 7, 2023, but could be extended.
Last month, a Facebook review board upheld the president’s suspension, but criticized its open-ended aspect.
With additional report from NYork Post
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