Nowadays, social networks are no longer simple chatting tools. They can become powerful propaganda tools. Fearing the use some may make of it, governments have sometimes taken extreme measures like banning those networks. 

Since the night of Thursday, June 1, access to the social networks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Youtube is restricted in Dakar and several other cities across Senegal.  By the afternoon, people were already experiencing difficulties in communicating easily on these platforms. Some users thought that it was caused by network disruptions. However, the social media block was confirmed by NetBlocks, an Internet governance watchdog, on its Twitter account.

The ban comes as clashes between security forces and youth groups have escalated in several districts of Dakar, Ziguinchor, Mbour, and Kaolack since yesterday. This conflict came after the announcement, on Thursday morning, that Ousmane Sonko, president of the opposition party Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l'éthique et la fraternité (Pastef), had been sentenced to two years in prison for corrupting the youth. Ousmane Sonko has been on trial since 2020 for rape and death threats against one Adji Sarr. He was acquitted of the rape charges and sentenced for another crime, making him ineligible for the February 2024 presidential election. 

On May 8, Sonko's eligibility for the presidential election was jeopardized by an initial six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation against the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang.

In a statement by Interior Minister Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome, the social network access restrictions were to prevent "the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages". In a press release issued on Thursday afternoon, the Pastef national office called on "the Senegalese people" to "take to the streets" and asked the army and national police to join them.

By blocking access to social networks, the government wants to prevent any mobilization by Ousmane Sonko. Indeed, throughout his legal battle in the Adji Sarr case, he used those tools to rally his supporters, claiming that the rape case is a plot by President Macky Sall's government to oust him from the race for power.

Facebook and Twitter were used on several occasions to relay the demonstrations and grassroots actions carried out by his young supporters. The videos published have sometimes contributed to escalations, resulting in deaths and material destruction during demonstrations. 

Muriel Edjo