Tanzania blocks X following controversial posts
London-based internet freedom monitor attributed the shutdown to a fake post announcing Suluhu's death
Elon Musk’s popular X platform has been blocked in Tanzania, the internet watchdog NetBlocks has reported.
Data from NetBlocks indicates that X has been down across all the major internet service providers in the President Samia Suluhu-led country.
The London-based internet freedom monitor attributed the shutdown to a fake post announcing Suluhu’s death after several accounts, including the official handle of the Police Service for Tanzania, were hacked.
“Live metrics show X has become unreachable on major internet providers in Tanzania; the incident comes as a compromised police account posts claims [sic] the President has died, angering the country’s leadership,” NetBlocks reported.
The Tanzania Police Force X handle (@tanpol) was compromised early yesterday and began posting false information, such as claims that President Suluhu was dead.
The account has over 470,000 followers and even held a live broadcast.
The Tanzanian authorities later regained control of the account and said they were pursuing the culprits.
The hack came amid the ongoing uproar against President Suluhu’s administration after several East African activists and lawyers, majority Kenyans, were deported and others arrested after travelling to the country to observe opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason trial on Monday.
Kenyan activist and journalist Boniface Mwangi and his Ugandan counterpart Agather Atuhaire were arrested in Dar es Salaam by suspected military officers on Monday, and their whereabouts remain unknown, even though earlier reports yesterday evening indicated that they were to be deported back to Kenya and Uganda, respectively.
Their arrest followed the detention and subsequent deportation of People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Council member Gloria Kimani, as well as activists Lynn Ngugi, Hanifa Adan, and Hussein Khalid.
Karua and her team were detained upon landing at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on Sunday and Monday for Lissu’s case hearing.
On Monday, President Suluhu accused foreign activists of wanting to “interfere” in Tanzania’s affairs.
“We have started to observe a trend in which activists from within our region are attempting to intrude and interfere in our affairs,” She stated.
She warned that she would not allow them to destroy the peace in Tanzania, as she added that it is the only remaining peaceful country in the region.
