Sudan restricts social media access to counter protest movement
MTN is one of the three main telecommunications operators in the country where access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp is now only possible through use of a virtual private network
Cairo/Dubai — Sudanese authorities are blocking access to popular social media platforms used to organise and broadcast nationwide anti-government protests triggered by an economic crisis, internet users say. Sudan has been rocked by near-daily demonstrations over the past two weeks. Protesters have set alight governing party buildings and have called on President Omar al-Bashir, who took power in 1989, to step down. In a country where the state tightly controls traditional media, the internet has become a key information battleground. Of Sudan’s 40-million people, about 13-million use the internet and more than 28-million own mobile phones, local media say. Authorities have not repeated the internet blackout they imposed during deadly protests in 2013. But the head of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service, Salah Abdallah, told a rare news conference on December 21: “There was a discussion in the government about blocking social media sites and in the end it was decided...
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