Abstract Summary/Description
My submission is a research article written for a class that explored how Nigerian youth form resilience against the government ban on the social media network. The study examines the unique response to the ban imposed by Nigeria’s then-president, Muhammadu Buhari, which escalated the issue from an individual grievance to a national political conflict. Through an analysis of 300 tweets from June 2021 to January 2022, using Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA), the research found that rather than migrating to alternative platforms or returning covertly, Nigerian youth actively and openly re-engaged with Twitter using VPNs. They strategized ways to bypass the ban and criticized the government, demonstrating a rejection of perceived authoritarianism and an emphasis on self-empowerment. The article highlights the broader implications of de-platforming incidents, particularly involving prominent individuals, and identifies strategies for enhancing online safety and resilience, contributing to the understanding of digital activism.
