Gabon Announces Indefinite Suspension of All Social Media Networks

(MENAFN) Gabon's national media watchdog moved swiftly late Tuesday to shut down social media networks and digital platforms across the country, imposing an indefinite nationwide suspension with immediate effect over what it characterized as an unchecked surge in dangerous online content.

The High Authority for Communication delivered the decree via a statement broadcast on national television, citing the "recurrent dissemination of defamatory and insulting" content alongside the "propagation of false information likely to disturb public order."

The regulatory body warned that hateful and inappropriate material circulating across social networks and digital platforms poses a direct threat to human dignity, social cohesion, the stability of state institutions, and national security — framing the shutdown as a necessary intervention rather than a punitive measure.

While acknowledging that freedom of expression is constitutionally protected in Gabon, the authority was unequivocal in its position that such a right "cannot be exercised in flagrant violation of the national and international laws in force."

The unchecked conduct, the body cautioned, carries the potential to "generate social conflicts, destabilize the institutions of the Republic and seriously jeopardize national unity" — language that underscores the gravity with which officials are treating the situation.

The High Authority for Communication also voiced frustration at what it described as a demonstrable absence of genuine willingness among platform operators to moderate illicit content, and issued a firm warning that the behaviors in question constitute criminal offenses subject to severe penalties under both domestic and international legal frameworks.

No timeline for lifting the suspension has been announced.

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