The Tanzanian government has blocked its citizens from accessing X (formerly Twitter) after the country’s X police force’s account was hacked a day after its President H.E. Samia Suluhu ordered the police to take action to “protect” social media platforms.
According to NetBlocks data, X is currently down across all Tanzania’s major internet service providers (ISPs), including Halotel, Airtel, Liquid Telecom, Habari Node, and Vodacom.
“Confirmed: Live metrics show X (formerly Twitter) has become unreachable on major internet providers in Tanzania,” wrote Netblock on X.
The Tanzania Police Force X handle (@tanpol), which has over 470,000 followers, was hacked on Tuesday and immediately started spreading misinformation, such as claims that President Samia Suluhu was dead. However, the authorities later regained control of the account and said they were in pursuit of the culprits.
“While we continue to track down the criminals who prepared and disseminated the information so that they are arrested, we ask the public to ignore the information and avoid continuing to disseminate it if it reaches you,” the Tanzanian police statement reads in part.
The cyberattack comes after President Suluhu’s administration deported and even arrested several activists and lawyers from Kenya and Uganda who had traveled to the country to observe opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason trial on Monday.
Ugandan activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan Boniface Mwangi were also arrested on Monday in Dar es Salaam by suspected military officers, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
