Gabon has suspended some social media platforms, citing concerns that posts could undermine social cohesion and threaten the stability of institutions and national security, the Central African country’s media regulator said in a statement.
The High Authority for Communication ordered the immediate suspension “until further notice,” without specifying which platforms were affected. Digital platforms and activists are violating Gabonese law by spreading “inappropriate, defamatory, hateful and abusive” content online, the HAC said late Tuesday.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said on Wednesday that access to Meta services, YouTube and TikTok was now restricted in Gabon. A Reuters witness reported that Facebook, Instagram and X remained accessible as of Wednesday afternoon.
Reuters could not determine whether a specific post or series of posts had triggered the decision. A government spokesperson could not immediately be reached.
Gabon’s president, Brice Oligui Nguema, was elected in April last year, cementing his grip on power after he led a coup in August 2023 that ended more than half a century of rule by former president Ali Bongo and his family.
The suspension “amounts to paralysing a significant part of the country’s economic and social activity in a context already marked by unemployment and the cost of living,” said civil society member Nicaise Moulombi.
“Social networks are no longer mere tools for entertainment; they have become instruments of work, citizen expression, commerce, innovation, and even democratic mobilisation,” Moulombi said.