Authorities have blocked X in Tanzania over the proliferation of pornographic content on the microblogging platform.
Jerry Silaa, the country’s ICT minister, told local media Wasafi TV on Wednesday that President Samia Suluhu ordered the shutdown of X over pornographic content that violates the “laws, culture and values” of Tanzania.
“There are rules on what kind of content should be published on social media. X’s content policies went against Tanzania’s laws: pornography, content on same-sex relationships,” Mr Silaa said.
The minister stated that the clampdown was not limited to X alone, as it would be extended to other platforms that violate the country’s rules.
“It is not just X, even YouTube. If you try finding something and you can’t find it, know that it is the government enforcing compliance to protect consumers,” Mr Silaa stated.
Earlier in May, Ms Suluhu’s government blocked X after hackers compromised the Tanzanian police official X account, using it to spread fake news.
The hackers deployed the handle to spread fake news that the Tanzanian president was dead, amongst others.
