Internet Shutdowns

On Tuesday, 13 February 2024, the Senegalese Ministry of Communication, Telecommunication, and Digital Economy ordered mobile data access to be suspended, citing the spread of "hateful and subversive messages on social media." This follows a similar order issued on 4 February that resulted in a similar shutdown, details here.

On Saturday, 3 February 2024, the government of Senegal suddenly postponed the upcoming presidential elections that were planned for 25 February. Amidst widespread protests after this announcement, the Senegalese Ministry of Communication, Telecommunication, and Digital Economy ordered a shutdown of mobile data access, citing the spread of "hateful and subversive messages."

On Monday, 31 July 2023, the Senegal Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy issued a communique stating that mobile Internet services would be "temporarily suspended" during certain unspecified hours starting on July 31. All mobile providers were ordered to comply. This follows the arrest over the weekend of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on new charges. Earlier in June, the government of Senegal shut down access to social media services amidst nationwide protests over the sentencing of Sonko. The government of Senegal expanded the blocking of services to include TikTok on Tuesday, 2 August 2023. Over 55 civil society organizations issued a statement on 3 August 2023 calling on the government of Senegal to restore Internet access. The Internet Society's Senegal Chapter was one of the signatories. By Monday, 7 August 2023, data from Senegal indicated that mobile connectivity was restored, but users reported that TikTok continued to be blocked. Articles summarizing the situation include: Senegal is stifling its democracy in the dark - .coda Senegal authorities arrest opposition frontrunner, ban his party and cut internet - Guardian

Amidst public demonstrations over the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to jail, the government of Senegal blocked access to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as to instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. Analysis from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) is that ISPs are blocking sites and services by timing out TLS handshakes. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the protocol used to make secure connections (ex. "https") to websites and services. TLS connections begin with a "handshake" between the two sites where they set up the encryption mechanism. ISPs are apparently interfering with this handshake process so that a connection cannot be established. The Internet Society Senegal Chapter published a brief statement. An English translation is:

The Senegalese government blocked access to social media and messaging apps such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and some Telegram servers starting on the evening of Thursday, March 4, and continuing until March 5th, 2021. The blocking of social media and messaging was implemented after one of the biggest series of protests in Senegal's modern history. The protests were sparked by the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on charges of rape and public disruption.