Tanzania has made it on to the infamous list of countries using network disruptions as a weapon against citizens during elections. In the lead-up to the presidential elections scheduled for October 28, 2020, authorities took a series of actions to restrict the digital rights of the Tanzanian people. Specifically, the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), acting under the repressive Magufuli government, forced telecom and internet service providers to install internet filtering equipment from the Israeli firm Allot, and then
deliberately disrupted Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram one day before the election.
The TCRA had previously ordered telco service providers to suspend access to short messaging services (SMS) and voice services, leaving millions of Tanzanians without effective communication tools. As of the publication of this post,