The state cited the need to prevent disinformation – but the ban may have increased citizens’ mistrust instead.

As Uganda emerges from an internet shutdown following the country’s 15 January election, human rights lawyers are mounting a challenge in Kampala’s High Court. They’re suing telecoms firms including MTN and Airtel, and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), saying the shutdown ‘violated constitutional protections and disrupted access to communication services nationwide.’

Two days before President Yoweri Museveni secured a seventh term, the UCC ordered telecoms providers to take the country offline. Besides a few free-to-air channels, including the state’s Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, and critical infrastructure and essential public services, most internet television and social media platforms ceased to operate.

There are some 20-million digital service users in Uganda, says the UCC, many relying on the internet for news. Although radio stations were not directly affected (though some community radios were banned), this hampered radio journalists’ ability to gather news and cross-check results.

The UCC said state security bodies recommended the action to ‘mitigate the spread of misinformation and disinformation, curb risks of electoral fraud and prevent incitement to violence.’

Uganda-based researcher Juliet Nanfuka told ISS Today that the law required that ‘basic conditions must be met’ to warrant an internet shutdown, including declaring a state of emergency. ‘But in a country like Uganda where the president’s son [General Muhoozi Kainerugaba] is also the army chief’ and is engaging in politics contrary to the law, ‘due process tends to fall away.’

Kainerugaba is a leading campaigner for his father’s National Resistance Movement party, which has held power since 1986. Seeking to succeed Museveni, he has made baiting opponents online part of his brand.

But this reached new heights when just days after the elections, he issued death threats on X against opposition National Unity Platform leader Bobi Wine. The Uganda Law Society described this as ‘an escalation of impunity and … abuse of the rule of law.’

This is not Uganda’s first election-time internet shutdown. In 2021, services were suspended for five days – a move widely considered designed to curb Wine’s influence. His popularity among youth is driven by his social media presence. Since then, insiders say, Museveni’s government has sought to co-opt digitally savvy individuals into his party, fighting fire with fire.

Nanfuka reminds us of a period of media liberalisation under Museveni in the late 1980s and ’90s. Restrictions were reimposed once internet penetration rose and citizens used online platforms to demand greater accountability from leaders.

While many see the recent shutdown as a cover to help secure another Museveni victory, it could have had secondary consequences. As social media gurgled back into action on 17 January, the Ugandan Electoral Commission’s public statements highlighting cases of mis/disinformation were too little too late.

Its social media warnings dribbled out days after the results were announced, limiting the ability to call out fake news timeously. This included inauthentic material circulated by Museveni’s opponents (although ongoing research by the author shows all sides appear to have employed this tactic).

Furthermore, numerous editors told ISS Today the shutdown made it ‘impossible’ to deliver public service messages on their digital platforms – like when electronic voting machines failed, delaying and disrupting the voting process.

This fed voters’ suspicions about how free and fair the process would be. It also affected radio, which uses the internet as a news source. An independent news channel editor told ISS Today they struggled to verify and report on ‘shootings and abductions’ as their newsgathering efforts were hampered, leading to ‘exaggerated reports’ and hearsay.

Wine’s alleged kidnapping is an example. Reporters could confirm that police had been deployed to his home, but ‘kidnapping’ could not be substantiated. It later emerged that artificial intelligence footage that circumvented the ban ‘showed’ a helicopter above his house.

Such unverified claims can arm political actors and fuel tensions. Free and fair access for media could have helped clarify and defuse the situation, and helped editors monitor reporters’ safety. Many journalists went underground, filing copy via SMS.

Over a week after the polls, out-of-date and unverifiable videos are emerging. Users may not know that this isn’t genuine footage – prolonging the threat period associated with elections and delaying a return to normal economic activity.

Leading up to the polls, the UCC dismissed speculation that an internet shutdown was coming. ‘The whole thing was very psychologically informed,’ says Nafuka. The danger with this back and forth is that ‘it undermines faith in all institutions.’ Perhaps that was the primary objective – to sow confusion and exert control.

That psychological control was also evidenced by UCC Executive Director Thembo Nyombi’s warning to anyone seeking to circumvent the internet restrictions that ‘we can directly target your device and prevent it from connecting to the network if necessary.’ Many journalists admitted they exercised ‘self-censorship’ to survive.

Despite the shutdown, the conduct of Uganda’s elections was ‘commended’ by the African Union Commission and described as ‘authentic and fair’ by Uganda’s Human Rights Commission. The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner however flagged concerns about ‘widespread intimidation and impunity.’

Internet shutdowns are becoming prolific in many parts of the world. There were 198 in Africa between 2016 and 2024, say Institute of Development Studies researchers. Services eventually resume, but analysts are reportedly viewing Iran’s current suspension as a step towards permanently uncoupling the country from the global internet.

Digital authoritarianism is tightening its grip, with leaders increasingly seeing the internet as an extension of the state. Mis- and disinformation thrive in settings where legacy (traditional) media is threatened, with many countries struggling to respond to the risks and opportunities of widespread information access.

Facebook (Meta) was banned by Uganda in 2021 after the platform suspended numerous inauthentic government accounts. Other African countries frequently complain that Meta doesn’t take them seriously or respond swiftly to takedown requests.

While platforms may consider such demands a drift towards censorship, their failure to engage may fuel digital authoritarianism. That could hurt both the quality of political discourse in Africa and the continent’s economic growth.

Written by Karen Allen, Consultant, ISS Pretoria