Tanzania announces shutdown of X because of pornography
Tanzania has decided to block access to social media platform X because it allows pornographic content to be shared, the information minister has said.
The content was contrary to the East African state’s “laws, culture, customs, and traditions,” Jerry Silaa told a local TV station.
Tanzanians have reported that access to X has been restricted in the last two weeks after political tensions rose and the police account was hacked, but there has not yet been a total shutdown of the platform. […]
In its post, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) said that X, then known as Twitter, faced a similar shutdown in the run-up to the 2020 election, and the “recurrence” of restrictions raised “serious concerns about the openness of digital space” in Tanzania.
The popular social audio app Clubhouse and messaging service Telegram are also inaccessible without the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN), the rights group added.
It said it was troubling that while the minister confirmed the government’s role in blocking X, government officials and public institutions continued to use the platform.
“This inconsistency confuses the public and undermines the credibility of the government’s position,” LHRC added.
Yeah, but governments don’t seem to care about consistency as a general rule. Hypocrisy of some sort is almost invariably part of the package even with “good” governments.
In his interview, Silaa linked the ban to X’s announcement last year that it would no longer block “consensually produced and distributed” adult content.
The minister was quoted as saying that X has “permitted explicit sexual material, including same-sex pornographic content” in breach of Tanzania’s online “ethics guidelines.
Ahhhhh. And why do I feel like “same-sex pornographic content” just means “showing gay people just existing normally”, not even doing The Dirty, Dirty Thing? Tanzania’s unpleasant LGBTQ+ rights record may not be as bad as Uganda’s, insofar as Tanzania won’t kill you for being gay, but that seems to be about it. Either way, I can’t wait until they discover Pornhub now…
