Access to the social media platform X has experienced extreme censorship in Tanzania. The move comes on the heels of a series of hacks that hit government and private sector institutions’ accounts. What we didn’t know is that the agency’s official police account was hacked on Tuesday. This shameless breach resulted in the dissemination of pornographic and defamatory content relating to an unnamed official, as well as misinformation regarding the president’s assassination.
On his part, Gerson Msigwa, the government spokesman went a step further and threatened the hacktors. He assured that swift action would be taken against federal employees responsible for the breach. Government spokesman and Information Minister Jerry Silaa acknowledged the hacking. He promised Members of Parliament that the hacked government social media accounts are safe again at this point.
As internet monitoring organization Netblocks reported, X also became “unreachable on all major internet providers” across Tanzania. Later on Wednesday, users in Dar es Salaam, the country’s largest city, had trouble connecting to X. Without VPNs, they could barely communicate at all. It must be said, using unlicensed VPNs is illegal in Tanzania. From what we’ve seen, people in every other part of the country were able to get on easily without any problems logging onto X.
The Tanzanian authorities have so far remained mum on the issue. They have yet to clarify if they are purposely blocking access to X due to the hacking events. On Monday, suspected military operatives abducted two other key activists in Dar es Salaam. Kenyan photojournalist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan Agather Atuhaire were arrested during a countrywide crackdown on internet access. As of this writing, their exact location is still unknown, and Tanzanian authorities have not yet responded to inquiries about the men’s detention.
Boniface Mwabukusi, the president of the Tanganyika Law Society, said Mwangi and Atuhaire are now in the custody of Tanganyika’s immigration department. This news is particularly worrisome for their prospects. Fears for Mwangi’s safety have been expressed by his wife, Njeri. She expressed her anxiety, saying,
“I’m actually concerned for his life. I know my husband, he would have communicated, he’d find a way to call or text me and because he hasn’t, makes me very worried about what state he is in.”
Given these developments, one Congressional representative’s office told us that their legal team is closely tracking these developments. They are continuing to look at the most appropriate legal remedies in order to bring about a just and timely resolution.