Gabon Blocks Facebook, TikTok Over ‘Hate Speech’, ‘Conflict-Inducing’ Posts

Access to Facebook and TikTok was cut off in Gabon on Wednesday, hours after the country’s media regulator ordered an indefinite suspension of social media platforms, citing the spread of hate speech and content capable of provoking unrest.

The High Authority for Communication (HAC) announced the move late Tuesday, attributing its decision to the “risk of conflict-inducing excesses” from online activity.

“The immediate suspension of social media platforms in Gabon has been imposed,” said HAC spokesman Jean-Claude Mendome in a televised statement.

He said that “inappropriate, defamatory, hateful, and insulting content” was threatening “human dignity, public morality, the honour of citizens, social cohesion, the stability of the Republic’s institutions, and national security.”

Mendome further accused users of spreading “false information,” engaging in “cyberbullying,” and carrying out “unauthorised disclosure of personal data,” warning that such behaviour could “generate social conflict, destabilise the institutions of the Republic, and seriously jeopardise national unity, democratic progress, and achievements.”

While the statement did not specify which platforms were affected, AFP journalists confirmed that both Facebook and TikTok were inaccessible across the country as of Wednesday morning.

Despite the sweeping restrictions, the regulator insisted that “freedom of expression, including freedom of comment and criticism,” remained “a fundamental right enshrined in Gabon.”

The suspension comes amid rising social tensions less than a year into President Brice Oligui Nguema’s rule. The former army general, who took power after an August 2023 coup that ended the Bongo family’s decades-long reign, is facing his first major test of public discontent.

Teachers have been on strike since December over pay and working conditions, with similar protests spreading across the public sector, including health, higher education, and broadcasting.

As the unrest deepens, the communications blackout marked one of the most significant clampdowns on digital space since Nguema’s government took office, raising concerns among rights advocates about transparency and public access to information.