Gabon suspends social media over hateful, insulting content

KIGALI, Rwanda

Gabon’s media regulator late Tuesday suspended social media networks and digital platforms nationwide with immediate effect until further notice, citing hateful and insulting content posted online.

In a statement read on national television, the High Authority for Communication said it had noted the “recurrent dissemination of defamatory and insulting” content as well as the “propagation of false information likely to disturb public order.”

According to the authority, inappropriate and hateful material circulating on social networks and digital platforms undermines human dignity, social cohesion, the stability of state institutions, and national security.

Although freedom of expression is guaranteed in Gabon, it “cannot be exercised in flagrant violation of the national and international laws in force,” the statement read.

The actions observed are likely to “generate social conflicts, destabilize the institutions of the Republic and seriously jeopardize national unity.”

Expressing regret over what it described as a lack of genuine willingness to moderate illicit content, the regulatory body warned that the online conduct constitutes offenses severely punishable under national and international laws.