Senegal suspended TikTok on all mobile phone operators’ networks over concerns that the social-media platform is being used to fuel violent protests.
(Bloomberg) — Senegal suspended TikTok on all mobile phone operators’ networks over concerns that the social-media platform is being used to fuel violent protests.
The app has become a tool for spreading “hateful and subversive messages” by individuals “that threaten to destabilize the country,” Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy Minister Moussa Bocar Thiam said in a statement in the capital, Dakar, on Wednesday.
Senegal has been wracked by sporadic and increasingly violent protests since March 2021, when opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was arrested and charged with rape. The popular politician has subsequently been convicted of morally corrupting a youth and charged with plotting an insurrection — making it unlikely that he’ll be able to run in next year’s presidential elections.
Internet access on mobile networks in Senegal was blocked for a third day on Wednesday after deadly protests over Sonko’s latest arrest. The yield on Senegal’s 10-year dollar debt jumped 30 basis points to 8.83% — the highest in almost a month — by 2:49 p.m. in London.
Senegalese democracy finds itself at a “serious turning point,” the International Federation for Human Rights said in an emailed statement, after the government banned Sonko’s Pastef-les Patriotes party.
“The dissolution of a political party is an extremely serious measure, which should only be used as a last resort, in accordance with democratic principles and respect for fundamental rights,” it said.
At least 40 people have died in political protests since March 2021, according to Amnesty Senegal.
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