African leaders know the power of social media
INTERNET shutdowns across Africa have become more prevalent in recent years as the use of social media platforms increases.
In all cases, these blackouts are implemented by leaders of national governments, particularly during times of social unrest or political contestation, highlighting the power social media users and platforms possess.
The term internet shutdown commonly refers to a multitude of internet restrictions. Access Now, a non-profit body founded in 2009 to defend global digital rights, defines an internet shutdown as an “intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information”.
Usually, the internet in its entirety and all tools which use the internet, such as apps, become useless. In some instances, only specific websites such as Facebook or Twitter, or internet-based apps such as Whatsapp, are blocked, or website speeds are throttled.
Irrespective, it is done by African leaders with the intention of stopping communication and access to information by civil society in a specific area.
People’s reliance on digital communication last year during national Covid-19 lockdowns was unprecedented, yet there were still 29 countries that imposed 155 partial, slowed or complete internet shutdowns.
Ethiopia tops the list with four instances of intentional internet restrictions. There were also two instances each in Chad, Guinea, Kenya, Sudan and Togo, and one instance each in Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda.
On the eve of Uganda’s national election in January this year, which was uncommonly hotly contested between 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, and his 38-year-old main opposition Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the internet was shut down for four days, beginning with social media platforms, reported the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), which monitors global internet censorship.
This had a significant impact because digital campaigning was one of the only ways political parties could canvass for votes during Covid-19 lockdowns.
In Ethiopia in July, when the assassination of musician and activist Hachalu Hundessa sparked civil unrest, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed implemented an internet shutdown that was only fully restored after 23 days, Quartz Africa reported at the time.
In November, when the Ethiopian
government launched a military offensive in Tigray in response to an attack on a military base in the restive northern region, the internet was shut down in this region.
Global internet watchdog Netblocks believes these actions severely restricted news coverage and transparency on the events in Tigray, and evidence is only now surfacing of potential crimes against humanity committed during the offensive.
According to the BBC, activists for digital freedom argue that internet shutdowns constitute censorship, whereas governments argue that shutdowns are justified in the interests of national security.
Non-profit media outlet The Conversation says internet shutdowns in Africa are a threat to democracy and development, highlighting the link between access to information and development.
The power of control over information cannot be denied and is illustrated by the media’s role in prolonging and inciting the 1994 Rwandan genocide by disseminating specific information, according to the Mail & Guardian.
Closer to home, in South Africa in 2015, the use of social media to communicate and mobilise supporters during the #Feesmustfall nationwide protests encapsulates how activism on the ground was organised in the digital space.
However, the power of social media can be measured only by the people who use it and their intentions.
Former US diplomat and CIA analyst Yaël Eisenstat, during a TED Talk, explained how social media platforms such as Facebook are “manipulating and radicalising so many of us”.
He said “social media companies like Facebook profit of of segmenting us and feeding us personalised content that both validates and exploits our biases”. | African News Agency (ANA)