Opposition politicians and businesses in Gabon have reacted with anger to a decision to suspend some social media platforms.<\/p>\n
The High Authority for Communication (HAC) on Tuesday announced it was blocking access to services including Instagram and YouTube saying posts are fuelling conflict and division in the country.<\/p>\n
“Metrics show multiple online platforms are now restricted in Gabon,” connectivity monitor NetBlocks said on X on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
According to the watchdog, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp, the most widely used social networks in Gabon, were all affected, along with YouTube and Instagram.<\/p>\n
In a televised statement on Tuesday, HAC spokesman Jean-Claude Mendome complained of “inappropriate, defamatory, hateful, and insulting content” on social media.<\/p>\n
He said it was undermining “human dignity, public morality, the honour of citizens, social cohesion, the stability of the Republic’s institutions, and national security”.<\/p>\n
“These actions are likely, in the case of Gabon, to generate social conflict, destabilise the institutions of the Republic, and seriously jeopardise national unity, democratic progress, and achievements,” he added.<\/p>\n
The regulator said “freedom of expression, including freedom of comment and criticism”, remained “a fundamental right enshrined in Gabon”.<\/p>\n
But former prime minister and leading opposition figure, Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze,has described the decision as \u201cincomprehensible\u201d and in violation of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese days many businesses, SMEs, young entrepreneurs, survive solely thanks to social media. It\u2019s not just some kind of gimmick for having fun anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a work tool. And for a country facing economic difficulties, where we see the budget is doing badly, it\u2019s truly counterproductive,\u201d Bilie-By-Nze added.<\/p>\n
He said the HAC has \u201cabsolutely no authority to make such a decision. It is disproportionate. It is an abuse that we utterly condemn”.<\/p>\n
A wide range of businesses \u2013 from restaurants to social media content creators \u2013 are also up in arms saying the ban will negatively impact their operations.<\/p>\n
Gabonese content creator, Mister Wils, who has nearly 100,000 followers on TikTok, said that the ban is bad news for his business.<\/p>\n
“In Gabon, we already struggle with monetising social networks, so it\u2019s contracts that allow us to exist. Now, clearly, we can no longer respond favourably to our partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wils added that he has contracts with partners abroad and now he cannot \u201cwork or honour what was agreed with them”.<\/p>\n
The ban comes as President Brice Oligui Nguema faces his first wave of social unrest with teachers on strike and other civil servants threatening to do the same.<\/p>\n
He pledged reform when he won the elections in April last year, two years after his coup that ended five decades of rule by the Bongo family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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