Trending 
Gabon has restored access to social media platforms after an eight-month suspension that prompted widespread criticism, the country’s media regulator has announced.
The High Communication Authority (HAC) confirmed the decision on Saturday. It had blocked several platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, on February 17. The regulator said online content was fuelling conflict and division in society. The suspension came following growing social unrest, less than a year after President Brice Oligui Nguema’s election.
“The HAC has decided to lift the suspension of social media platforms,” spokesman Jean-Claude Franck Mendome said in a statement read on television.
Read More : Houthis Renew Threat Against Riyadh Airport
The ban affected Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, which are widely used in the Central African country. WhatsApp access was also disrupted at times.
However, some users bypassed the restrictions through virtual private networks (VPNs). VPN provider Proton reported a 60,000 per cent increase in downloads of its tool the day after the ban took effect. The HAC said the suspension was intended to “allow the government to adapt its legal framework to better regulate social media”.
The government has also introduced a rule requiring social media users to provide formal identification. The measure effectively ends online anonymity.
Meanwhile, the HAC said it was working with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok and YouTube to “improve content moderation” on the platforms.
Gabon’s opposition had condemned the suspension as an abuse of power. The ban also faced several legal challenges, but courts rejected them all.
Former Prime Minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze was among the policy’s most vocal critics. He has been in prison since April over allegations of abuse of trust and fraud dating back to 2008. Critics have cited both the social media ban and Bilie-By-Nze’s arrest as signs of a repressive climate in Gabon. They say the developments have weakened hopes that Nguema’s rise to power would lead to democratic change.
The 2023 military coup that brought Nguema to power ended 55 years of Bongo family rule. It prompted celebrations across the country.
Nguema was later elected president in April 2025.
