Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, claims that Facebook is biased after a number of his governments’ supporter’s accounts were closed for ‘spreading false information’.
“Facebook will talk but we shall move, they are not God. Recently, I heard people who came here for the first time…they were from the USA. When they reached, they asked me, where is war? I answered, which war? They told me that they had seen on Facebook that there is a war in Uganda. Therefore, for such things, Facebook will fail,” says Museveni.
“They deleted our people’s accounts under the guise, but we can see the bias, the discrimination standards they used. You cannot say that these were doing wrong, what about the other group (opposition) that have been spreading all forms of wrong information and inciting our people?”
Internet Access Reportedly Restored in Uganda
Internet access in Uganda has reportedly been restored after the Government shut it down ahead of the national election.
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Prior to the election, the Uganda Communications Commission ordered telecommunications companies to immediately suspend any access and use of social media and online messaging platforms – gradually Facebook and other social platforms were shutdowns before finally the entire country was disconnected.
In an official tweet, NetBlocks, an internet freedom monitor, revealed that 13% of the East African country is seemingly back online.
Netblocks also says that such a blackout could have already cost the Ugandan economy around $9 million.
According to CNN, Yoweri Museveni has been re-elected for a sixth term, despite “widespread allegations of fraud and intimidation”. Reports suggest that Museveni’s rule has been challenged over the years through protests and potential rivals. Recently, however, “a key tactic in curtailing opposition has been to control Ugandans’ access to the internet“.
“After a brutal, months-long crackdown on the media, Uganda’s internet disruption is the latest attempt to keep the country’s citizens in the dark … and to prevent journalists from reporting on events surrounding the vote,” Muthoki Mumo, a regional representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.
“Ugandan authorities should reverse course and take steps to ensure unrestricted internet access and guarantee that the public is adequately informed during the post-election period.”
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