AN EXAMINATION OF TWITTER BAN AND ITS IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Quantitative
- Chi-Square
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 5000
Background of the study
Transparency and accountability are essential for the effective operation of a contemporary democracy and the promotion of societal well-being. Many powers are allocated to governmental bodies in most countries. The delegators, that is, society at large, must then be assured that this transfer of authority is not only successful, but also not misused. Transparency guarantees that information is available to be utilized to assess the performance of the authorities and to guard against any potential abuse of power. Transparency, in this sense, assists to achieve accountability, which means that authorities may be held accountable for their acts. Without openness and accountability, trust between a government and those it controls will be absent. As a result, societal instability and an unfavorable atmosphere for economic growth would prevail.
Transparency may be thought of as a composite construct made up of several components, such as external accessibility and active disclosure. It has been defined in several ways, but the majority of formulations consider visibility to be basic. Transparency can be broadened to encompass completeness, comprehension, or inferability of information, but it ultimately starts with "the availability of information about an actor that allows the other players to watch the workings or performance of the first actor." Governments may encourage transparency by actively providing information about their operations and choices and then making it accessible, monitorable, and evaluable to citizens. Government openness is viewed by citizens when government information is publicly available. Citizens will not perceive government openness unless they are adequately informed of government operations and decisions, even if information is accessible (Zavattaro, S. M., & Sementelli, A. J. 2015).
Nigeria's government is among those that utilize social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites to inform citizens about government policies and projects. The recent ban on one of the most popular social networking sites, Twitter, has created a lot of confusion among its residents. Twitter is a microblogging and social networking website that allows users to post and interact with messages known as "tweets." Unregistered users can only view tweets, while registered users may publish, like, and retweet them. Twitter is accessed via its internet interface or its mobile-device application software. As a result, in the absence of timely information, such as that shared on these social networking sites, citizens may be pushed to lose faith in the government's transparency, which invariably sends a message that the government is not accountable to the citizens, which is contrary to true democratic principles.
1.2 Statement of the problem
On 4th June 2021, the Nigerian government officially put an indefinite ban on Twitter, restricting it from operating in Nigeria, after the social media platform deleted tweets made by the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, warning the south-eastern people of Nigeria, predominantly occupied by the Igbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War (CNN 2021). The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the President's tweets factored into their decision, but it was ultimately based on "a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it has had real-world, violent consequences".
Although Amnesty International, the British and Canadian missions, and the Swedish Embassy in Nigeria, as well as domestic organizations such as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), have all condemned the ban, its implications are likely to have a significant negative impact on the profitability of Nigerian telecommunications companies.
According to the Social-Media-Poll-Report (2020), more than 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet and social networking sites and nearly 40 million of them have a Twitter account — 20% of the population. Thus, the banning of Twitter in Nigeria invariably means that one of the many social media platforms through which citizens are informed about government policies and programs has been obstructed, sending a lot of messages to the masses about the Buhari-led administration's level of transparency and accountability. Therefore, it is upon this premise that this study is set to examine the impact of the Twitter ban on government transparency and accountability.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The main focus of this study is to examine the Twitter ban's effect on government transparency. The study specifically seeks to:
- Investigate the importance of social media for government transparency.
- To examine the extent of government transparency through the Twitter platform before the ban.
- To determine whether the current Twitter ban will have an impact on citizens' perceptions of the government's transparency and accountability.
1.4 Research Hypothesis
The research is guided by the following hypothesis.
HO1: Nigeria's Twitter ban does not have a negative impact on citizens' perceptions of government transparency.
HO2: There is no significant relationship between the Twitter ban and government accountability.
1.5 Significance of the study
This study depicts a critical analysis of the effect of the Twitter ban on government transparency and accountability, it is critical to note that the findings and theoretical aspects of this work will be relevant to citizens, political stakeholders, and the government. To the stakeholders and the government, the study will enlighten them on the need to reassess the current ban on Twitter, knowing how this will affect the perception of its citizens on the level of their transparency and accountability, as the effect of this may jeopardize the true tenet of democracy. More so, the study will also be significantly useful to students and researchers and other individuals who may have the interest to gather or carryout any study related to the topic under study.
1.6 Scope of the study
The scope of this study extends to a critical examination of the impact of Twitter's ban on government transparency and accountability. The study is therefore limited to Twitter Users in Lagos State.
1.7 Limitations of the study
During the course of this research, the following factors are proposed to be a limitation.
Financial constraint– Inadequate funding tends to impede the researcher's efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection process (internet, questionnaire, and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. As a result, the amount of time spent on research is reduced.
1.8 Definition of terms
Twitter: Twitter is an American micro-blogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.
Twitter Ban: This is the authoritative pause in the operation of Twitter as mandated by the Federal government of Nigeria on June 5th 2021 until the owners of the social network meet the newly established requirements given to them by the government of Nigeria.
Transparency: Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, operates in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.
Accountability: Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving.
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