FG asks Facebook to block IPOB’s posts
The Federal Government of Nigeria has asked Facebook and other social media sites to stop allowing Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) to use their platforms to “incite violence and instigate ethnic hatred in Nigeria,” according to a press release.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the request at a meeting in Abuja with Facebook employees.
Ipob wants to create a breakaway state in south-east Nigeria called Biafra.
“For whatever reason, they seem to have now chosen Facebook as their platform of choice. And their tools include disinformation, incendiary statements and hate speech,” the minister said.
“They tag those opposed to their violent ways as ‘saboteurs’ who must be attacked, maimed and killed,” he continued.
Last week a BBC investigation found that a network of Nigerian separatists based outside the country is using social media to call for violence and incite ethnic hatred against opponents of Biafran independence.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told the BBC that calling for violence on its platform was unacceptable. It said that it had 15,000 people reviewing content in more than 70 languages – including Igbo.
BBC
