Uganda shut down all social media in the country on Tuesday after the country’s longtime leader accused Facebook of taking sides in the upcoming presidential election on Thursday.
President Yoweri Museveni, 76, apologized for the inconvenience caused by the ban, but said Uganda had no choice after Facebook removed several accounts related to its re-election campaign.
“If you want to take sides against the (ruling party), the group will not operate in Uganda,” he said in a national speech.
“We can not tolerate the arrogance that someone has to decide for us who is good and who is bad.”
Facebook said on Monday that it had removed a network of accounts linked to Uganda’s Ministry of Information, which used ‘fake and duplicate accounts’ to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, mimic users, post divide into groups again to make them look more popular than they were. ”
The social networking giant did not immediately respond to the president’s comments on Tuesday, but Twitter, which is apparently also a ban, exploded the move.
“We strongly condemn the internet blocking – it is extremely harmful, violates basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet,” reads it in a statement.
“Access to information and freedom of expression, including public discourse on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, especially not elections.”
Many social media users were furious about Twitter’s comments, noting that the company – which recently suspended President Trump’s account permanently – muzzled The New York Post in the 2020 race over its coverage of Hunter Biden.
“What an incredible level of hypocrisy !!!” one person wrote.
‘Beautiful tweet. “In the run-up to the election in this country, Twitter shut down the NY Post because it did not agree with its news reports.” another user commented.
Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, faces a challenge from popular singer and opposition lawmaker Bobi Wine, who has attracted a large following among the country’s youth.
Wine, 38, uses Facebook for live coverage of his campaigns and news conferences, saying many media outlets – most of which are owned by government officials or state-controlled – have refused to host him.
The International Press Institute, a global media watchdog, has called on Uganda to re-establish social media networks.
“Any attempt to block online access to journalists or members of the public is an unacceptable violation of the right to information,” a statement said.
With Post threads