President Macky Sall has said Senegal plans to regulate social media, which has been described as “a real cancer of modern societies” by media outlets in the west african nation.
“No organised society can accept what is happening here today. We are going to put an end to it, one way or another,” he said.
Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, has stated that the country intends to regulate social media, which the Dakarctu website has dubbed as “a true disease of modern communities.”
After exposing rape claims against prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko last year, journalists denounced online and physical violence.
His detention in connection with the case sparked unusual widespread anti-government rallies, with at least 13 people killed and many more injured.
There are concerns that legal action could be taken against adolescents who use social media to organize protests against Sall’s administration.
Recall that last year, the Nigerian Government suspended Twitter access in the country, with major telecoms networks appearing to block the platform, two days after Twitter removed a post from the president, Muhammadu Buhari, that threatened to punish secessionists.
The tweet, according to Twitter, violated its abusive behavior guideline. Buhari threatened to punish pro-Biafra elements in the post, which have been accused for many attacks on government agencies and security personnel this year.
“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Biafra war,” Buhari wrote. “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” referencing his role as a brigade major during the Biafra war, one of the darkest chapters in Nigeria’s history. The war ended the attempts by mainly Igbo people in south-east Nigeria to create an independent nation of Biafra.
Outrage at the ban erupted in Nigeria, with many describing it as an attempt to censor citizens and clamp down on dissent, after several users reported the president’s tweet on Wednesday.