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Chadian activists are demanding that the government reinstate access to social media after their disruption a year ago.
The restrictions were introduced on March 28, 2018, shortly after the close of a national conference that recommended amendments to the constitution, to allow President Idriss Deby to remain in power until 2033.
Why were social media cut?
Deby's critics have mobilized via social media since the last presidential election in 2016.
The mobilization proved effective, because according to Vincent Niebede, of the BBC, in Ndjamena, the capital, many Chadians used social media to organize anti-government demonstrations.
He says that the internet has become a real threat to the government.
Did it work?
Access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, among others, has been blocked and, since the implementation of the ban, the number of events has decreased and those that have occurred have also decreased.
The restriction mainly concerns activists and small business owners who rely on social media for advertising and their customers.
A well-known Chadian blogger, Deuh & Emmanuel, told the BBC: "Without Facebook, without access to social media, it's like being in prison without a cell."
Some Chadians have managed to circumvent the ban by using Internet proxies called virtual private networks (VPNs). Although VPNs are free, some people told the BBC that they ended up benefiting telecommunications companies because social media platforms took longer to load and store more data.
However, the ban only affects a small number of people in Chad – only 4.9% of the population has regular access to the Internet, according to data collected by Internet World Statistics.
What did the government say?
Activists have always blamed the government for reducing social media.
However, the authorities remained silent for a long time. Several departments have rejected responsibility.
The body responsible for electronic and postal communications, Arcep, said it received the order from the Ministry of the Interior.
On Wednesday, the government spokesman, Oumar Yaya Hissein, told our reporter that the ban had been imposed for "security reasons."
Why did it last so long?
According to our reporter, the government considers social media a serious threat.
Rebel movements hostile to President Deby are still active in the country. In February, the French army, at the request of the Chadian army, attacked a convoy of heavily armed rebels arriving from Libya.
According to a security official interviewed by our journalist, the government believes that social media could allow rebel leaders to recruit more young people.
There have also been cases of civilians having captured illegal killings and beatings and posting them online, which the government is keen to stop.
Will the government restore access to social media?
This seems highly unlikely. A group of Chadian lawyers sued telecommunication companies in a court in August 2018 with the goal of restoring access to social media but lost the case. The lawyers have appealed but the court of appeal rejected Thursday their case, invoking "security reasons" for the reduction of social networks.
The group of lawyers, led by Daïnoné Frederic and Frederic Nanadjingué, said that he was now going to try to have the ban annulled by appealing to the international authorities.
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