In Africa, to silence dissonant voices or limit the proliferation of embarrassing content on the Web, some governments are no longer hesitant to block access to social networks. An increasingly recurrent recourse that worries the human rights associations.
Thursday, August 8, in Algeria, authorities blocked access to Youtube and Google. The Netblocks organization gave the alert on its website and on Twitter. "YouTube and several Google services were blocked Thursday evening in Algeria by the public company Algeria Telecom and other major Internet providers," said the association for digital rights worldwide.
The restriction that affected the Google Translate, Hangouts, or even Play Store services lasted several hours before being lifted at around 11pm. "This corresponds to methods used to restrict online content in the country," Netblocks denounced. Especially since the blockade comes after the publication of a video of the former Algerian Minister of Defense Khaled Nezzar.
Confirmed: YouTube, Google Translate and several other Google services blocked across #Algeria after video published calling for ouster of military leader #KeepItOn # Algeria
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In a ten-minute video that made more than 40,000 views on YouTube, the former chief of staff calls the military authorities of Algeria, shaken for several months by demonstrations after the fall of 'Abdelaziz Bouteflika, "to respond to the demands of the people." "The dialogue between civilians and the military must be continuous. It is unfortunate that we muzzle people who denounce anomalies and excesses, "he said.
Cut Internet, recurring practice
"Nothing proves for the moment that there is a link between the blockage of the Internet and the speech of General Khaled Nezzar," said Khaled Drareni, editorial director of the online news site Casbah Tribune contacted by France 24. "But what is certain is that Thursday access to YouTube and Google has been restricted. This obviously did not stop people from seeing the video in question. "
Khaled Nezzar, an 81-year-old retired general, who is also the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the military court, did not fail to throw thinly veiled spades at the current head of state. staff, Ahmed GaĂŻd Salah, de facto strong man of the country. "While civilians should normally take the major decisions related to war and peace and the military executes, how to admit the ugly situation in which we find ourselves. A vice minister [Ahmed GaĂŻd Salah] who overrides the acting head of state. It's the world upside down."
Khaled Nezzar and Ahmed GaĂŻd Salah have been in dispute for several years. The first reproaches the second his great hold on the army. "But the tensions between the two men have been exacerbated in recent weeks with the incendiary tweets of Khaled Nezzar," says journalist Khaled Drareni.
This is not the first time that the Internet has been cut in Algeria. In this country of 43 million inhabitants, the Internet is often cut in June during the baccalaureate exams. Officially to fight cheating. In February, at the very beginning of the protest against Abdelaziz Bouteflika's fifth term, access to social networks was also disrupted.
Sudan, DR Congo, Cameroon: Internet under control
In recent years recourse to this practice has also become recurrent to stifle protest movements. "Cutting the Internet is a violation of human rights and an infringement of freedoms. Unfortunately, this has long been unpunished by the international community. It is therefore difficult today to reverse the trend, "explains Julie Owono, executive director of Internet sans Frontières, contacted by France 24.
In Sudan, protesters calling for a civilian-led transition of power since the fall of Omar al-Bashir were deprived of the internet on 3 June. That same day, 127 people died in the bloody crackdown of a sit-in by the army, according to a committee of doctors close to the movement.
In January 2018, during the counting of the results of the tense presidential elections in DR Congo, the authorities also decided to cut off Internet access to avoid "a popular uprising" in the words of Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, diplomatic advisor of the former President Joseph Kabila. "There are people who intoxicated the population with false figures concerning the elections," he said. "The National Security Council decided that it was imperative to cut the Internet to allow the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI ) to finish the compilation and encoding of the election results ", he justified.
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Throughout the year 2017 in Cameroon, the Internet has been regularly cut and access to social networks limited in the English-speaking areas of North and South-West where there has been a separatist conflict since November 2016. These untimely cuts had pushed NGO to lodge a complaint against the Cameroonian State to the Constitutional Council.
Disturbing phenomenon
Julie Owono remains categorical. According to her, '' restricting access to social networks or the Internet has never stopped misinformation or hate speech. It never worked. Other means exist. We must empower platforms that do not monetize hatred. Policymakers must take steps to encourage the moderation of content on social networks and not systematically censor.
While the propensity to limit access to the Internet has until now been the preserve of authoritarian regimes, the practice appeals to some countries that have a strong democratic tradition, such as Benin. In April 2019, for the first time, the authorities disrupted access to the internet during the legislative elections in which the opposition did not participate and which ended in an unprecedented political crisis. "This is very worrying for those countries that have never had problems with freedoms. It is quite disturbing. Cutting the Internet is the first sign that an election is not going well "concludes Julie Owono.