Spanish
Dar es Salaam.- Tanzania restricted access to the social network X after the account of the African country's Police suffered a cyberattack this Tuesday and was used to announce the false death of the Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Late on Tuesday, NetBlocks, an organization that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, indicated that X was not working on the main internet service providers in Tanzania (Halotel, Airtel, Liquid Telecom, Habari Node and Vodacom)
"Real-time metrics show that X (formerly Twitter) has become inaccessible on major internet providers in Tanzania," NetBlocks stated.
"The incident occurs when a compromised police account publishes claims about the president's death, which has angered the country's leaders," stated the UK-based organization.
According to EFE, it was possible to access X in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania, this Wednesday, although it is not clear whether users can access the social network from the rest of the national territory.
In a statement, the Police reported that "false, misleading and unethical information" is circulating on the social media of the Police Force (...) with the aim of convincing the public that it was issued by the Police Force through its X network.
The Police emphasized that "the information is not truthful" and that the police force "cannot create and disseminate said information on its social media."
"While we continue to search for the criminals who created and disseminated the information so they can be arrested, we urge citizens to ignore the information and avoid spreading it if they receive it," he asserted, adding that he will take "strict measures" against anyone who spreads such content.
This incident occurred after President Hassan criticized this Monday the interference of foreign activists in the country's affairs.
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The president made that reproach after prominent Kenyan lawyers and activists were arrested and deported in recent days after traveling to the country to follow the legal proceedings of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, accused of treason.
Human rights groups and the opposition have denounced a wave of repression and arrests of dissidents in the last year, despite the reforms that Hassan initially promoted to counter restrictions on freedom of expression imposed by her predecessor in the Presidency, John Magufuli, who she replaced in 2021 after his sudden death.
