Service blocking
Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, Viber
In one of the longest-running Internet disruptions of the last few years, messaging apps in Chad were blocked for 16 months. The social media blackout began in March 2018 after proposed government reforms to the constitution which would enable the current president to stay in power for the next 30 years.
- Total Duration 484 days
Chad
- Population
- 19,319,064
- UN Classification
-
- Least Developed Country
- Land Locked Developing Country
Local impact
The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, ordered the shutdown 'for security reasons'. The media speculated that the blackout was an attempt to silence discontent among Chadians. Chad has the 10th lowest Internet resilience ranking on the Internet Society Internet Resilience Index (IRI) for Africa and around 8% of the population of around 17 million people have access to the Internet. The vast majority of Chadians use mobile Internet and individuals with fixed line connectivity stands at 0%. While insufficient infrastructure, low bandwidth, low internet penetration rate and the prohibitively high cost of reliable connectivity hamper online services, entrepreneurs and businesses are slowly building the digital economy. During the shutdown, those offering online services that relied on messaging apps either stopped trading or had to resort to costly VPNs to circumvent the block, which resulted in them losing their livelihood or reducing their profit. In the 16 months the ban was upheld, the country's economy lost out on an estimated $100 million.
Other supporting information
OONI data suggests that access to Facebook Messenger was interfered with in Chad between 28 March 2018 and 13 July 2019, as illustrated through the following charts demonstrating OONI measurement coverage from the OONI Probe testing of Facebook Messenger during this period.
In particular, the testing of Facebook Messenger presented signs of potential blocking on three ASNs in Chad between 28 March 2018 and 13 July 2019: Airtel Tchad (AS327756), MILLICOM (AS327802), and Prestabist (AS37462). Meanwhile, OONI data shows Facebook Messenger was accessible on one ASN (AlbideyNet (AS327864)) on April 7, 9, 11, and 14, 2018.
OONI measurement coverage from Chad between March 2018 and July 2019 was extremely limited, limiting our ability to corroborate the reported blocks with confidence.
Social media
Assani, 33, runs WenakLabs, a digital co-working space in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena and has resorted to using expensive Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent the shutdown.“It’s absolutely necessary to use VPN and very often we find ourselves abroad using it and only realize that we don’t need it elsewhere,” Assani said. - Source: CNN
Media coverage
Assani, 33, runs WenakLabs, a digital co-working space in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena and has resorted to using expensive Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent the shutdown.“It’s absolutely necessary to use VPN and very often we find ourselves abroad using it and only realize that we don’t need it elsewhere,” Assani said. - Source: CNN