Global 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.”

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.

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.

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.