PLATFORM POWER, CORPORATE DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY AND THE LIMITS OF STATE REGULATION: LESSONS FROM NIGERIA'S TWITTER BAN FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

The suspension of Twitter (now X) by the Nigerian Federal Government between June 2021 and January 2022 constitutes one of the most legally consequential confrontations between a sovereign state and a global technology corporation in recent history. This article examines the Nigeria-Twitter episode through the prism of 'corporate digital sovereignty'. The present article evaluates the human rights implications under international instruments such as the ICCPR and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; analyses extraterritorial dimensions of Nigerian corporate regulation and Twitter's governance architecture; compares the Nigerian experience with analogous episodes in India, Russia, and the EU; and proposes elements of a binding international legal instrument. The article concludes that without a multilateral framework, developing states will remain perpetually disadvantaged in regulatory encounters with global technology corporations.