Vunderkind
Social Member
It is an evolving world, and everything is following the script: phones, cars, fashion and even media. In Nigeria, the trend isn’t any different: political thuggery has evolved and grown to include a subsidiary: e-thuggery and political hashtag oppression.
In a BBC feature, we read about how Nigerian politicians have now ‘employed’ Nigeria’s idle youths as wheels in their grand monster-machines of democratic upheaval.
“When it comes to providing work for idle minds,” BBC says, “the devil seems to have a particular fondness for Nigerian youths, especially around election times.”
“As Nigeria gears up for the 2015 general elections, squads of young people are being recruited across the nation to storm cyberspace: To harass, intimidate and persecute their employer's opponents or those with views that oppose his ambitions.”
For many Nigerian youths, being an "internet warrior" is a full-time job.
Some work from home; others work from an office - many work round the clock.
I spoke to a 28-year-old chemistry graduate who patrols the online war front for one of Nigeria's popular politicians.
Every morning, he gets dressed and embarks on a 20-minute drive to work, where he sits in an office with dozens of other young people on the same mission as himself.
With a burst of laughter, he summarised his job description in three words: "Distort public opinion".
He and his colleagues have about 10 different pseudonyms each for news websites and blogs, but fewer for Facebook and Twitter.
They bombard articles about their politician with positive comments, and blast those of his opponents with negative posts.
Click here to read more
Source: #BBC
In a BBC feature, we read about how Nigerian politicians have now ‘employed’ Nigeria’s idle youths as wheels in their grand monster-machines of democratic upheaval.
“When it comes to providing work for idle minds,” BBC says, “the devil seems to have a particular fondness for Nigerian youths, especially around election times.”
“As Nigeria gears up for the 2015 general elections, squads of young people are being recruited across the nation to storm cyberspace: To harass, intimidate and persecute their employer's opponents or those with views that oppose his ambitions.”
For many Nigerian youths, being an "internet warrior" is a full-time job.
Some work from home; others work from an office - many work round the clock.
I spoke to a 28-year-old chemistry graduate who patrols the online war front for one of Nigeria's popular politicians.
Every morning, he gets dressed and embarks on a 20-minute drive to work, where he sits in an office with dozens of other young people on the same mission as himself.
With a burst of laughter, he summarised his job description in three words: "Distort public opinion".
He and his colleagues have about 10 different pseudonyms each for news websites and blogs, but fewer for Facebook and Twitter.
They bombard articles about their politician with positive comments, and blast those of his opponents with negative posts.
Click here to read more
Source: #BBC
