Facebook, TikTok shut down in Equatorial Guinea

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Facebook and TikTok have been inaccessible for more than two weeks in Equatorial Guinea, an AFP journalist said on Wednesday, after a video accusing the vice-president of corruption went viral.

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The authoritarian central African country, which has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979, is regularly accused of repression of civil liberties.

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Internet speed has been restricted since September 2 and access to Facebook and TikTok — the country’s most popular online platforms — has been impossible for anyone without a virtual private network.

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Other Meta platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram, are limited but working.

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The apparent block on Facebook and TikTok comes after a young woman accused the president’s eldest son, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang, of corruption in an online video.

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She was then arrested by the authorities.

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The vice-president — nicknamed Teodorin — is known for his luxury lifestyle that he posts on social networks.

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He was convicted in France in 2021 in a trial over “ill-gotten gains” and saw his assets frozen in the United Kingdom following investigations into acts of corruption.

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There was no immediate response from the information ministry when contacted by AFP.

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In Gabon, which borders Equatorial Guinea, social networks have been suspended since February, officially to combat the dissemination of “content… undermining… the stability of the institutions of the republic and national security”.

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AFP

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