Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday congratulated Nigeria for blocking Twitter. Trump once referred to African nations, of which Nigeria is one, as “s—hole” countries.
“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech – all voices should be heard,” Trump said in a statement.
“In the meantime, 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,” Trump added. “But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?”
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Repressive governments around the world already ban social media platforms like Twitter, including Iran, North Korea, and China. Nigeria’s government indefinitely suspended the platform on Friday after Twitter deleted a tweet from Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that violated its policies on “abusive behavior.” Buhari’s tweet threatened secessionists in the southeast of the African country.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the deadly Capitol insurrection in early January, which he egged on both on and off Twitter, saying at one point: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
He repeatedly used the platform to spread lies about the 2020 election, including baseless claims of mass voter fraud and the false notion that the election was “stolen.” Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and erroneous statements about the result were central causes of the violence at the Capitol on January 6.
The former president was also indefinitely suspended from Facebook after the Capitol attack. Last Friday, the social media giant said his suspension would last for at least another two years.
Trump recently started a blog as a means of communicating directly with his supporters in light of the social media bans, but it struggled to generate engagement and he shut it down less than a month after it was launched.
