Gabon restores social media access after an eight-month ban

Gabon’s media regulator said access to social media was restored on Saturday after an eight-month suspension that sparked widespread criticism.

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

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

Facebook and TikTok, the most-used platforms in the country, as well as YouTube and Instagram were shut down, while WhatsApp worked intermittently.

Some people still managed to access social networks via a virtual private network (VPN), a secure, encrypted tunnel that hides your IP address and protects your internet traffic.

Provider Proton reporting a 60,000 per cent increase in downloads of its VPN tool the day after the ban came into force.

The HAC says the suspension was aimed at allowing "the government to adapt its legal framework to better regulate social media".

Users are now required to provide formal identification, effectively ending online anonymity.

The authority said it was working with Meta - which owns Facebook and Instagram - as well as TikTok and YouTube to "improve content moderation" on those platforms.

Gabon's opposition had slammed the social media ban as an abuse of power, and it faced a string of legal challenges that were all rejected.

Former prime minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, who has been in prison since April over alleged abuse of trust and fraud dating back to 2008, was one of the most vocal critics of the measure.

Activists have cited the ban and Bilie-By-Nze's arrest as examples of the repressive climate in Gabon under Nguema.

The 2023 coup that brought the military general into office ended 55 years of rule by the Bongo family, had sparked hope of democratic change.