Gabon restores social media after eight-month ban

The High Communication Authority (HAC) pulled the plug on social networks, including Facebook and TikTok, on February 17, blaming content posted online for stoking conflict and division in society.

Social media icon applications appear on a mobile phone. (Photo by AFP)

The crackdown came as Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema faced a wave of social unrest less than a year after his election.

"The HAC has decided to lift the suspension of social media platforms," spokesman Jean-Claude Franck Mendome said in a statement read on television.

Facebook and TikTok, the most-used platforms in the central African nation, as well as YouTube and Instagram were shut down, while WhatsApp was on and off.

Some people still managed to access social networks via a VPN, with provider Proton reporting a 60,000-percent increase in downloads of its VPN tool the day after the ban came into force.

The HAC said the suspension aimed to "allow the government to adapt its legal framework to better regulate social media".

Source: Citizen Digital