Facebook, TikTok shut down in Equatorial Guinea

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

She was then arrested by the authorities.

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

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.

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

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”.

AFP