Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

  • Lagos, Nigeria
  • Info@bhluemountain.com
  • Office Hours: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Mon - Fri
  • December 19 2023

Nairaland blackout: Popular online forum shutdown by Cloudfare over undisclosed abuse

Nairaland, a popular Nigerian online forum and the country’s seventh-most-visited website, is in blackout mode after Cloudflare, an American content delivery company, yanked its server offline on Monday. Seun Osewa, Nairaland’s enigmatic founder, confirmed the shutdown on Monday, sharing that Cloudflare implemented a takedown after an abuse report filed two weeks ago. The nature of the abuse remains unclear.  Osewa first tweeted on Monday evening that Nairaland’s website was down due to “an unscheduled maintenance operation” by Cloudflare. By Tuesday afternoon, Osewa tweeted that the Nairaland forum was taken down for a different reason. “Nairaland’s server was taken down because I overlooked an abuse report that was originally sent on the 14th. After the takedown, I removed the offensive content,” his tweet read.   “The technical support team has informed me that only the abuse team has the power to reinstate our server, that their review could take up to 48 hours, and that nothing can be done to speed up the process. I’ve been informed that the only thing I can do is wait. It’s humbling,”  Osewa did not respond to multiple requests for comments from TechCabal. “Cloudflare offers security and reliability services to millions of websites, helping prevent online abuse and make the Internet more secure,” Cloudflare shared on its website. The company prohibits hate speech, malware, and copyright infringement.  Launched in 2005, Nairaland is Nigeria’s most popular online forum. With around 3 million registered users, it allows users to create content around a wide range of topics and has helped build communities around news, politics, entertainment, and technology. Yet, Nairaland has often been criticised for lax content moderation and a staid design, which has not changed since its launch.  Nairaland’s takedown will draw relevant questions about the rashness of Cloudflare’s decision. “Will Cloudflare take down Reddit, the popular American online forum, for instance, for a similar incident,” one media expert who spoke to TechCabal asked. Osewa’s tweets show that the timeline for resolving the incident remains unclear. Nairaland’s disappearance leaves a sizeable void in the Nigerian online space and while there are questions around the future of the platform, it’s clear that it will need to evolve and make some changes when it returns. 

Read More