Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi or CCM, the Revolutionary ruling party has restricted X in order to block dissent.
Internet providers reportedly limited usage in the country on Friday.
The lockdown coincided with Brazil banning the social media service on the same day.
Similar to Brazil, IPSs appear to have blocked X at the request of the Tanzanian government.
Reasons for the lockdown included an appeal to “safetyism.”
For instance, the use of X was being denied based on Government warnings “about potential opposition party actions aimed at freeing political prisoners from police custody.”
Breaking the news on Saturday, The Jurist said, “Tanzania’s most prominent providers such as Vodacom, Airtel and TTCL, had drastically reduced X’s reachability.”
Vodacom – owned by Vodaphone – has apparently blocked access to X entirely.
Internet observers, NetBlocks, seemingly confirmed the bans, posting activity logs on their X page.
The decision to ban X, The Jurist added, was in response to police alerts about online protests, concerning “the ongoing detentions of several individuals.”
All are considered to be political prisoners.
Protesting political persecution Media personality, Maria Sarungi Tsehai, highlighted concerns on X, demanding the CCM either “release its opponents, or tell Tanzanians where the government dumped their bodies.”
Calling for families, and the victims of persecution to speak up, Tsehai, remarked, “Eery time we keep quiet, another family comes to lose their loved one.
“We must not allow ourselves to be silenced!”
Tsehai then threatened to air the Tanzanian regime’s “dirty records” on the international stage. (Translated into English by X AI, Grok)
In a latter post, Tsehai accused, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu, of calling protesters “foolish barking dogs.”
To which, Tsehai fired back accusing, Suluhu, of only “caring about those OUTSIDE Tanzania and donors!”
Responding to X’s ban, TechRadar encouraged Tanzanians, and foreigners in the country to switch to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), to “bypass geo-restrictions – like the one in place in Tanzania right now.”
As one user, who thanked Tsehai, posted, “Tanzania government has blocked access to X and attacked freedom of speech. We are now using VPN to use X.”
The country, the BBC called “one of the safest and most politically stable on the continent,” is marred by political tragedy.
Tanzania’s governing system is best described as centralised.
A majority Christian nation, with a dominant Muslim minority, Tanzanian politics are complex.
CCM has a monopoly on power and their control of “competitive politics” appears to be rigged in their favour.
The regime has been in power for decades and is partial to imprisoning members of opposition parties.
Leaders of the Chadema party opposition were arrested in August, some were released on bail, and others are still being detained.
Authorities charged the group with “incitement to violence,” apparently using that as a pretext to shut down a planned political rally.
Additionally, protests and political gatherings were only reinstated by Suluhu in January, after she lifted a 7-year ban.
The Tanzanian government blocking X also complies with June 2024 proposals put forward by Mohamed Ali Kawaida, chair of CCM’s youth arm.
Escalating the ruling party’s appeal to “safetyism,” Kawaida tried to argue that X was polluting the country by promoting “pornography, and homosexuality.”
Banning X – he implied – was in the interest of public health.
Questioning Kawaida’s reasoning, Internet Governance Tanzania Working Group (IGTWG) – seeming UN-affiliated – criticised the claims as “unsubstantiated.”
IGTWG said, “X” plays a minimal role in the spread of objectionable content compared to other platforms.
As if predicting CCM’s Tanzanian ban on X, at the time IGTWG warned, that “such a ban could set a dangerous precedent for future censorship.”
Shutting down access to X in Tanzania, they argued, would compromise informed public discourse, by stopping “open dialogue, about social, economic, and political issues.”
That’s the point.
As X account, Slow Kenya News stated, President Samia Suluhu’s lockdown of X, “reveals her true colours as a dictator, crushing free speech and dissent.”
Tanzania is approaching an election season.
Shutting down X is further evidence of CCM actively suppressing its political opponents.
By banning X, CCM appears to be tampering with the 2025 Tanzanian election.
From Britain to the EU, Australia, the United States, and Brazil, Elon Musk’s free speech platform is a threat to this kind of political tampering.
Ergo, for the globalist bureaucratic caste, X must go.
