Regulation

Gabon lifts social media ban after eight months

Gabon lifts social media ban after eight months

Gabon’s High Communication Authority (HAC) has lifted a ban on social media imposed eight months ago. The policy change was announced on Saturday in a televised statement.

The ban had been introduced on 17 February, with the HAC saying that online content was fuelling conflict and deepening divisions in the country. As we reported at the time, Gabon suspended access to major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and WhatsApp, as the government sought to curb unrest sparked by teachers’ and civil servants’ strikes over what they said were low pay and poor working conditions.

As the BBC news service points out, social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have been particularly popular with the younger generation in the country. The move triggered widespread criticism at the time. In the event, many people turned to VPNs in order to continue accessing social media sites following the ban.

President Brice Oligui Nguema won last year's elections with more than 90% of the vote, two years after his coup had ended more than five decades of rule by the Bongo family. At the time he pledged to reform Gabon, a small, oil and timber-rich country, where digital blackouts were used by the previous governments to control information.

Following the ban, we reported that Gabon had introduced a sweeping social media ordinance which eliminates online anonymity and imposes strict identity requirements, among other measures. 

The HAC says the suspension was aimed at allowing "the government to adapt its legal framework to better regulate social media". It added that it was working with Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) as well as TikTok and YouTube, to "improve content moderation" on those platforms.

Social media in Africa has been targeted by a number of Africa countries recently, including Tanzania, which blocked platforms during an election last year, and Uganda, which  shut down internet access earlier this year, again during an election.



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