This snapshot is intended to offer an overview of inter-religious issues present in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, identifying emerging narratives, key actors, tactics, or techniques used in conversations related to communal clashes and religious groups. The overview is the second in a series of social media analytical reports by the Build Up and local partners that seek to empower youths in Bauchi, Plateau, and Gombe to advance inter-religious tolerance and freedom of religion. The report was written by Allan Cheboi and Mira El Mawla.
Executive Summary
The following are the main findings of Build Up’s social media analysis:
- The End Bad Governance protests have taken over the news cycle and the Phoenix dashboard for this research period, with a stark peak in content creation and interaction by users.
- Public posts about strife and security incidents in the North are a display of deep divides and polarisation between Muslim and Christian citizens.
- Government and army agencies have a strong online presence that is increasing in tandem with momentum building around the country-wide protests.
- Master posters are the main source of narrative: they publish with inflammatory headlines and do not moderate comments that serve as encouragement for further argument, or simply “clickbait” for entertaining comment sections.
- There are some calls for, and representation of, unifying narratives that encourage Nigerians to come together. These may have also increased in parallel with protests, but they remain a fraction of the bigger, more polarised picture when examining Facebook and X.
Key recommendations provided include closer monitoring of the online space, production of public findings to offset the heavy governmental and military online presence and research now being applied in Nigeria, and an encouragement to continue this analysis in more depth with the dynamic dashboard to identify milestones and actions that can respond to online harm.
The report below expands on the core narratives, the main actors identified and the main social media channels used to propagate them. At the end of the report, we make suggestions for particular narratives or techniques that warrant ongoing monitoring.