AUTHOR: Beverly Mtui
Internet connectivity has become a powerful mechanism for connecting people across the
world, especially in mobilising and taking action against inequality and human rights
violations. While many struggles are rooted in local challenges, digital technologies and
tools, with the internet and social media at forefront positions, enable people to connect
across borders to tackle them with a global force. This enables people not only to stand up for
one another but also to act together in solidarity.
At the same time, it is important to emphasise that the internet and social media are not
neutral spaces, as they are shaped by systems of power that facilitate surveillance and
threaten privacy (Amnesty International, 2019). In addition, these spaces are not value
neutral. They can reinforce existing biases, assumptions, inequalities, and even
discrimination or violence within the digital sphere (Amnesty International, 2023). This
shows that the internet can both empower and restrict people’s rights, and indeed, there is a
fine line between using the internet as a tool for freedom of expression and using it to
infringe on rights.
Nevertheless, the internet has become a staple in most of our lives. Amnesty International
(2019) notes that “[f]or more than 4 billion people, the internet has become central to how
they communicate, learn, participate in the economy, and organise socially and politically”
(p.5). This also shows how internet access plays an important role in connecting individuals
and civil societies within and across countries. But what happens when this access is
suddenly restricted or even completely taken away?
Amnesty International Australia (2021) explains that internet shutdowns occur when
governments or authorities deliberately restrict or block internet access and services, such as
social media platforms, in a particular region or population. This prevents people from
communicating not only within their country or region but also with the rest of the world.
However, this goes beyond not being able to talk to your friends from another town or your
family abroad. In the context of human rights, restrictions or a lack of internet access strongly
limits people’s ability to access information, speak out against injustices or even mobilise and
organise protests, to name a few.
Recent internet restrictions and shutdowns in East Africa
While internet shutdowns are happening worldwide, this article sheds light on recent
experiences from East Africa that make particularly visible how internet restrictions and
shutdowns are used in the context of political tensions.
Kenya
In 2024, widespread protests erupted after the Kenyan government proposed tax reforms. The
country’s youth and young adults particularly led these protests and used social media
platforms to raise awareness of the implications of the proposed policies. As Amnesty
International documents in its report “This fear, everyone is feeling it”: Tech-facilitated
violence against young activists in Kenya (2025), a day before the protests, Kenya’s
Communications Authority publicly stated that it would not shut down the internet. It
declared that doing so would violate both freedom of expression and broader constitutional
protections. However, once the protests started, internet connectivity dropped significantly
across the country. In fact, monitoring organisations observed nationwide disruptions across
multiple networks, which also affected messaging services and social media platforms.
Although telecommunications providers related the issues to an outage of their undersea
cables, the timing and scale of the connectivity loss raised concerns among civil society
organisations that the disruptions could be linked to attempts to influence and control the
dissemination of information during the protests.
Tanzania
Tanzania is also no stranger to internet restrictions. Amid the 2025 general elections,
authorities imposed a partial internet shutdown, which Amnesty International strongly
criticised. As Vongai Chikwanda, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International for East
and Southern Africa, stated: “This is the third time in less than a year that Tanzanian
authorities have resorted to an internet blockade to silence dissenting voices. Authorities must
immediately refrain from suppressing protests and instead respect, protect, and facilitate the
right to peaceful assembly. They must immediately and unconditionally release all those
arrested solely for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.”
Uganda
Unfortunately, restrictions of this sort continue to prevail. Just earlier this year, in 2026,
internet access in Uganda was limited. The Uganda Communications Commission suspended
internet and certain mobile phone services ahead of the country’s general elections.
Authorities in Uganda have repeatedly restricted internet access during election periods,
limiting voters’ access to information at critical political moments. For example, during the
2021 elections, a nationwide internet blackout lasted for several days and coincided with
widespread violence in which multiple people were reportedly killed. Responding to the 2026
restrictions, Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and
Southern Africa, said: “Cutting off internet access under the pretext of preventing
misinformation or preserving national security violates human rights at a critical moment in
Uganda. It creates an information vacuum and a digital darkness that may provide cover for
the perpetration of serious human rights violations.”
Why internet access matters for human rights
According to the United Nations (2022), internet access supports a wide range of rights,
including freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, participation
in cultural and political life, and broader social and economic development. In addition, the
global organisation stated that the real-life consequences of internet shutdowns remain
widely underestimated, and thus warned that their impact on the daily lives and rights of
millions of people is still insufficiently acknowledged and demands far “greater attention
from governments, international organisations, businesses, and civil society” (p.2).
Amnesty International has made immense efforts to ensure that internet shutdowns are taken
seriously as human rights violations, and to mobilise people to pressure governments to end
the use of internet disruptions to silence the voices of individuals, communities and civil
society as a whole (Amnesty International Australia, 2021). Evidently, such outages are not
just technical disruptions. They are political decisions that can profoundly impact people’s
ability to exercise their rights, mobilise and organise collectively, and hold authorities
accountable. Therefore, it is important that we challenge internet restrictions and shutdowns,
as well as share resources to mitigate their implications, to ensure that human rights are
protected in an increasingly digitalised world.
Amnesty International resource tip: “How to communicate and document
human rights violations during an internet shutdown”
Link: https://citizenevidence.org/2020/11/16/shutdown-toolkit/
References:
Amnesty International. (2019). Surveillance giants: How the business model of Google and
Facebook threatens human rights. Amnesty International.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol30/1404/2019/en/
Amnesty International. (2023). Digitally divided: Technology, inequality and human rights.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol40/7108/2023/en/
Amnesty International. (2025). “This fear, everyone is feeling it”: Tech-facilitated violence
against young activists in Kenya. Amnesty International.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr32/0471/2025/en/
Amnesty International. (2025). Tanzania: Unlawful killings and other human rights
violations continue amid internet and electricity blackouts.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/tanzania-unlawful-killings-and-other -human-rights-violations-continue-amid-internet-and-electricity-blackouts/
Amnesty International. (2026). Uganda: Authorities must urgently lift internet restrictions
ahead of crucial election day.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/01/uganda-internet-shutdown/
Amnesty International Australia. (2021). Everything you need to know about internet
shutdowns.
https://www.amnesty.org.au/everything-you-need-to-know-about-internet-shutdowns/
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2022). Internet
shutdowns: Trends, causes, legal implications and impacts on a range of human rights
(Report No. A/HRC/50/55). United Nations Human Rights Council.
https://docs.un.org/en/a/hrc/50/55
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