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Sadly and regrettably, Zambia has made it to the hall of shame, joining African governments that block freedom of expression during electoral disputes, yesterday there were the 31st African country to block social media.
Just this year alone Five African countries have rushed to block the internet to limit freedom of information, these include, Zambia Uganda, Senegal, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For the first time ever Zambians have got to learn of Virtual Private Networks, (VPNs) something which most Zimbabweans have braved twice already in the past few years, as they circumvent traffic ban through ISPs.
The court challenge in Zambian however forced the government to then lift the ban, forcing the regulatory authority to stop the restrictions.
Thirty One African countries have restricted social media access in this period, out of a total of 66 globally, according to the cybersecurity company Surfshark, which describes Africa as “a volatile environment for social media.”
According to the Surfshark tracker, at least 16 African countries have restricted social media access in the past due to elections and at least seven have done so due to protests and demonstrations.
Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Togo, Tanzania, Benin, DRC, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Mali, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe have restricted access to social media in the past due to elections, protests and demonstrations
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