Facebook is officially blocked in Uganda and the government has owned up to blocking the social media platform and other Facebook Company Products like Instagram and WhatsApp after they made a bold move recently and blocked pro-NRM accounts and pages that belonged to civil servants and bloggers.
On 12th January 2021 in his press statement, the President said: “Facebook will not operate in Uganda. This is unfortunate but inevitable. No one will play in our country”.
This comes after Facebook responded yesterday admitting that action was taken against certain accounts and pages which it blocked for violating the rules of using the platform. Those who were affected were accused of manipulation of public debate ahead of the elections yet to take place.
Many woke up to find that the popular messaging app and other apps that are Facebook Company Products like Instagram and WhatsApp required a Virtual Private Network to use them and the government(President while addressing the nation ) has come out to confirm that Facebook is officially blocked in Uganda until further review of their actions (the ban on NRM Pro Accounts)
Read more: Social media shutdown in Uganda gets many off-guard as they struggle to stay connected.
The President apologized to those who rely on the app for their day to day activities. He said, “To those who have been using the channels we are sorry but it had to be done.” he portrayed further dismay as he said, “We cannot let this arrogance of anybody decide for us who is good and who is bad.”
The President called for fair judgement and it seems until the platform can act accordingly, it will remain blocked until the Government decides otherwise. He went on to say, “If it’s going to operate in Uganda, it has to be equitable.”
Facebook is officially blocked in Uganda for banning hundreds of accounts which are still blocked at the moment despite several complaints about social media asking for them to be unblocked. Pro-government bloggers over the weekend asked for the government to intervene and it seems that this is the action the Government has chosen.
Also read: Facebook blocked pro-NRM accounts ahead of 2021 elections for poor behavior.
It’s quite uncertain when this will really end as we’ve observed other apps taking similar lines of action when it comes to people using the platforms for the wrong reasons.
The question is will all apps be blocked in the country if they take action against those that they believe are violating the rules of their platforms?
Facebook is officially blocked in Uganda, citizens react.
Here is how people reacted to the President’s statement that was released this evening.
For those that were caught off-guard, you can get VPNs onto your phone by following the article that will guide you on how to hack the the blocked stores.
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Read : Pro-NRM Facebook accounts have been blocked for using hate speech