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Then Virtual Personal Networks (VPN), Samsung MAX app, and proxy network settings directly in the Twitter app came to the rescue of Nigerians who were desperate to tweet. For government officials and governmental handles, they have stopped tweeting since the ban. Word across the street is that the supporters and sympathizers of the current administration have since moved on to dominate another social media network called ‘Koo’. Whether the government’s effort to block free speech and citizen expression is constitutional or not, one simple reason the Twitter ban has not really worked is due to the alternatives that technology has made available. Apart from traditional VPNs, legacy phone Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) companies, such as Samsung have built their own VPN services. Building such a service as Samsung Max is in consideration of special privacy features for your phone and in preparation for when countries block some Internet Service Providers (ISP) accessing social media sites or other sites. A product such as the Samsung Max app rests users who have privacy concerns on VPNs. They will have little to worry about if they use a VPN released directly from the OEM.
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It is also being mulled that Apple is developing its own VPN which iPhone users, themselves, can use directly from their operating systems without installing a third-party application. Another design-enabled method for bypassing ISPs that have blocked platforms such as Twitter at the government’s behest is inserted as a feature on Twitter settings. On Twitter settings, you can set your proxy through the ‘privacy’ feature. After clicking on the proxy, inserting a masked Proxy Host, (for instance: 159.65.14.136), and the Proxy Port: 8080 changes the network settings directly from your phone and you will be able to progressively access Twitter. Unlike it was a decade ago, it will keep getting difficult for governments to really censor service platforms. And as the decentralisation of information keeps expanding via the progressive adoption of blockchain technology, it will become harder for media platforms to suppress individual speech itself. The more regulation of information or expression by media platforms or the government grows, the more the people will feel boxed to a corner by censorship. As government censorship of websites and platforms increases across the world, such bypass technologies and tricks as this will continue to spring up – offering useful alternatives to upwardly mobile citizens. Featured Image Source: Indian News Live
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