Internet shutdowns across Africa have become more prevalent in recent years as usage of social media platforms increases. In all cases, these blackouts are implemented at the hand of leaders of national governments, particularly during times of social unrest or political contestation, highlighting the power social media users and these platforms possess.
The term internet shutdown commonly refers to a multitude of internet restrictions. Access Now, a non-profit founded in 2009 to defend global digital rights, defines an internet shutdown as an “intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information”.
Usually, the internet in its entirety and all tools which use the internet, such as apps, become useless in these circumstances. In some instances, only specific websites such as Facebook or Twitter, or internet-based apps such as WhatsApp, are blocked, or website speeds are throttled.
Irrespective, it is done by African leaders with the intention of stopping communication and access to information between civil society in a specific area.
People’s reliance on digital communication in 2020 during national Covid-19 lockdowns was unprecedented, yet there were still 29 countries that intentionally imposed 155 partial, slowed or complete internet shutdowns.
Ethiopia tops the list with four instances of internet restrictions. There were also two instances each in Chad, Guinea, Kenya, Sudan and Togo. And there was one instance of intentional internet restrictions each in Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda.
On the eve of Uganda’s national election in January 2021, which was uncommonly hotly contested between 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, and his 38-year-old main opposition Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the internet was shut down for four days, beginning with social media platforms, reported the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), which monitors global internet censorship.
Closer to home, in South Africa in 2015, the use of social media to communicate and mobilise supporters during the #FeesMustFall nationwide protests encapsulates how activism on the ground was organised in the digital space.
However, the power of social media can be measured only by the people who use it and their intentions.
Former US diplomat and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Yaël Eisenstat, during a TED Talk, explained how social media platforms such as Facebook are “manipulating and radicalising so many of us”.
Eisenstat went on to say that “social media companies like Facebook profit off of segmenting us and feeding us personalised content that both validates and exploits our biases.
In other news – Moshe Ndiki finally launch his own eatery
Moshe Ndiki is excited about a new project and his opening his own eatery called Moshe’s Kitchen – The media personality took to social media to share that he is launching the eatery on 16 April.
Moshe’s win saw Mzansi social media users congratulating him for finally taking a big step in his career. Learn more
Source: IOL
