The Digital Public Sphere in Nigeria: A Review of Politeness, Dissent, and Identity in Online Comment Sections

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of the growing body of scholarship on the Nigerian digital public sphere, with particular attention to three analytically intertwined dimensions: politeness and linguistic incivility, dissent and counter-hegemonic mobilisation, and identity construction and ethnic polarisation. Drawing on the PRISMA framework, the review synthesises approximately 92 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026, sourced from platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, and Nairaland. The paper interrogates the adequacy of Habermasian models of rational-critical discourse when applied to postcolonial, multi-ethnic, and economically stratified digital environments. The review finds that Nigerian online comment sections simultaneously enable grassroots civic resistance and reinforce ethno-religious division, functioning neither as straightforward democratic public spheres nor as simple arenas of noise and disorder. Rather, they constitute what this paper terms a hybrid sphere, a contested communicative terrain in which identity performs, politeness is weaponised, and dissent is always already entangled with belonging. The paper concludes by identifying critical gaps in the literature, particularly around TikTok comment discourse and WhatsApp political communication, and calls for more mixed-method and computationally grounded approaches to the study of Nigerian digital publics.