Uganda shuts down all social media platforms ahead of tomorrow’s presidential polls

Published:

By Abba Gwale

Ugandan government ordered telecom companies in the country to shut down all social media and messaging services ahead of the country’s Presidential election.

In a letter sent to the companies, Ugandan Executive Director of Communication Commission, Irene Sewankambo ordered all telecommunications firms to immediately suspend any access and use of social media and online messaging in the country.

A source told AFP said that the letter was first communicated in a nasty and aggressive way to the companies.

The list of banned social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Signal and Viber. Some of these were already offline on Tuesday.

According to the source the calls made it clear the order was retaliation for Facebook deleting pro-government accounts for seeking to manipulate public debate before tomorrow’s poll.

The decision forced users to turn to Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to bypass the blockade.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, is in power since 1986 and he is running against Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, a former entertainer who became a Member of Parliament in 2017.

Related articles

Recent articles

spot_img