Uganda closed all social networks in the country on Tuesday after the country’s longtime leader accused Facebook of taking sides in the upcoming presidential elections 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 linked to its reelection campaign.
“If you want to take sides against (the ruling party), that group will not operate in Uganda,” he said in a national speech.
“We cannot tolerate this arrogance of someone coming to decide for us who is good and who is bad.”
Facebook said on Monday that it removed a network of accounts linked to the Ugandan information ministry that “used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate other users, share posts in groups to make them more popular than they were. ”
The social media giant did not immediately respond to the president’s comments on Tuesday, but Twitter, which also appears to have affected the ban, detonated the move.
“We strongly condemn the shutdown of the Internet – they are extremely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of #OpenInternet,” said in a statement.
“Access to information and freedom of expression, including public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly in elections.”
Many social media users were outraged by Twitter comments, noting that the company – which recently permanently suspended President Trump’s account – gagged The New York Post during the 2020 race because of its report on Hunter Biden.
“What an incredible level of hypocrisy !!!” one person wrote.
“Awesome tweet. During the race for the election in this country, Twitter closed the NY Post because it disagreed with its reporting ”, another user commented.
Museveni, who has governed Uganda since 1986, faces the challenge of popular opposition singer and lawmaker Bobi Wine, who has attracted many followers among the country’s youth.
Wine, 38, has used Facebook for live coverage of his campaigns and press conferences, saying that many media outlets – most of which belong to government or state allies – have refused to host him.
The International Press Institute, a global media watchdog, has asked Uganda to re-establish social media networks.
“Any efforts to block online access to journalists or members of the public are unacceptable violations of the right to information,” the statement said.
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