On Friday, Federal Government of Nigeria announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter operations in the country, sparking condemnation from all corners.
Here is a good news though, despite the government’s suspension, you can still use the platform.
MDB in this article examines how you can bypass Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter through some tips.
Recall that Lai Mohammed, minister of information, announcing the ban on Friday said the government was forced to act on the grounds of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
The sanction of the social media platform follows the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet that many Nigerians deemed as a genocidal threat.
In the tweet, Buhari referenced Biafran War of 1967-1970, wherein at least 3 million people were lost with several others injured and starved.
Although he did not name the South East, it was in clear reference to the region where government installations have been torched in recent weeks, and which suffered the brunt of the civil war the most.
He said;
Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigeria Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.
Reacting to this, FG not only suspended the platform’s operations but directed National Broadcasting Commission to immediately commence licensing all Over-The-Top (OTT) media services and social media operations in Nigeria.
The development has continued to spark widespread outrage, with many Nigerians, including celebrities, condemning the move.
Read Also: FG Under Fire For Twitter’s Indefinite Suspension
Althoguh, as at 8:30pm on Saturday morning, June 5, Twitter was still very active in the country, it is yet to be known when the implementation of the suspension would take place.
Before the implementation of the suspension, here are tips on how to successfully use Twitter or any other social media app without worrying about the restriction;
– VPN To The Rescue
Shortly after Federal Government announced the suspension via its own official Twitter page, a virtual private network (VPN) started to dominate discussions on the platform, hitting top of the trend table.
The question is what exactly is VPN and how does it work to help you bypass the suspension as many has suggested?
VPN in simple terms protects your identity and browsing activity from hackers, businesses, government agencies, and other snoops.
When connecting to the internet with VPN, your data and Internet Protocol (IP) address are hidden by a type of virtual tunnel. This keeps others from spying on your online activity.
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two main functions: host or network interface identification and location where you are.
By connecting to a secured VPN server, for instance, your internet traffic goes through an encrypted tunnel that nobody can see into, including hackers, governments, and your internet service provider.
How can VPN help you use Twitter despite the government’s suspension?
From the basic explanation of what VPN is, using it will help hide your IP address — the unique number that identifies you and your location in the world.
One of the benefits of using VPN is that it changes your IP address. This implies that with a new IP address — which can be that of any country of your choice — you can use Twitter as if you’re in your selected country without restriction.
To do this, all that is needed is to change the location of the VPN to any country of your choice and connect to that country’s VPN.
Also, with the government’s suspension, you can still access Twitter from a Nigerian IP because VPN hides your address.
How can you get a VPN?
Getting a VPN isn’t a difficult thing. There are paid versions of VPNs and there free ones that can guarantee you seamless usage of Twitter and any other apps, should they also get banned.
Some of the best-paid VPNs for Twitter, according to Comparitech, are ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark, CyberGhost, IPVanish, VyprVPN, and ZenMate.
The free VPNs that can be used for Twitter include: Psiphon, ProtonVPN, Hotspot Shield Free VPN, Windscribe free, TunnelBear, Speedify, Hide.me, USA VPN, Nord, PIA, IPvanish and Thunder.
To get a VPN — either paid or free — on your device, below are the simple steps you can follow:
1. Go to Appstore/Playstore
2. Type VPN in the search box
3. Download any VPN of your choice
4. Open the app and install
5. Change your location to any other country of your choice (for instance Germany, US, Russia…)
6. Then click connect on your VPN.
– With Proxy Server
A proxy server acts as stand-in (proxy) computer that routes the request from you, the client, to the blocked server.
The server sees the proxy as you and effectively this makes you invisible as the server does not know you sent the request.
All you need to do is to download Puffin browser from your playstore or AppStore. Puffin browser is a browser that uses proxy server. Hence, it allows you to visit some blocked websites in Nigeria without using any VPN. Just download it and logged into your twitter account and you are good to go.
– Location Explorer
1. Go to phone settings, & turn off “LOCATION”
2. Go to TWITTER TRENDS & make sure you turn your trends to Nigeria.
This way, you’ll see “Nigeria Trends”, then you can keep tweeting.
With these tips above, you are guaranteed a limitless access to social media without fear of any restriction.
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