New walls in cyberspace: Internet shutdowns and authoritarianism in Africa

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COMMENT: Although the Berlin Wall was toppled 30 years ago, new walls have continued to crop up around the world: virtual ones that block or limit internet access to avert political dissent, writes JFisherBham.

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But there is some cause for optimism, not only in Uganda but across a range of semi- or fully authoritarian African states where governments have sought to maintain control through online censorship and internet shutdowns. For, ultimately, despite the profound, short-term effects such actions produce — politically, socially and economically — it is becoming increasingly clear that authoritarian African regimes are fighting a losing battle in their attempts to build “new walls” in cyberspace.

Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo , for example, cut off internet and SMS access for three weeks following that country’s controversial 2018 presidential election.

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