{"id":1232,"date":"2025-01-27T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goldentimessouthsudan.com\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2025-01-27T13:18:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T13:18:37","slug":"south-sudan-blocks-social-media-access-amid-unrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goldentimessouthsudan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/south-sudan-blocks-social-media-access-amid-unrest\/","title":{"rendered":"South Sudan blocks social media access amid unrest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A police officer conducts traffic in the South Sudan capital Juba, where authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on January 17 in response to the unrest. (Photo: Reuters\/Samir Bol).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media rights body, called on South Sudanese authorities to reverse their social media ban and ensure that the public has open and reliable internet access. This is essential<\/a> for gathering news amid the country’s unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlocking social media access is a blanket act of censorship and a disproportionate response to unrest that makes it difficult for journalists to do their jobs and robs the public of the diverse sources of news,\u201d said CPJ Africa program coordinator, Muthoki Mumo. \u201cSouth Sudanese authorities should immediately lift this social media suspension.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 22, South Sudan\u2019s telecommunications regulator, the National Communication Authority, directed all internet service providers to \u201cblock access to all social media accounts\u201d for a \u201cminimum of 30 days\u201d and a \u201cmaximum of 90 days,\u201d according to a copy of the authority\u2019s letter<\/a> reviewed by CPJ as well as multiple<\/a> media<\/a> reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Authority said it issued its suspension orders to stop the social media spread of footage showing the killings<\/a> of South Sudanese nationals in neighbouring Sudan, which triggered <\/a>violent <\/a>protests<\/a> in South Sudan, including \u201crevenge<\/a>\u201d killings <\/a>of Sudanese nationals. Authorities in Juba on January 17 imposed <\/a>a dusk-to-dawn<\/a> curfew in response to the unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of January 22, at least two telecom providers \u2013 Zain South Sudan<\/a> and MTN South Sudan<\/a> \u2013 published notices on Facebook warning users that TikTok and Facebook would no longer be accessible. In the afternoon of January 23, CPJ spoke to two South Sudanese journalists and two South Sudanese human rights defenders who said that Facebook and TikTok were inaccessible without the use of a virtual private network (VPN), an encryption tool that can bypass censorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe journalists are using VPNs to work. What we don\u2019t know is whether our audience is receiving [our news],\u201d said Mariak Bol, editor-in-chief of Hot in Juba<\/a>, a news site that also <\/a>publishes<\/a> content on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press briefing on January 23, the Authority\u2019s director general Napoleon Adok Gai said that there was a possibility that the social media ban would be lifted within 72 hours, according to media <\/a>reports.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reached via telephone, South Sudan\u2019s information minister Michael Makuei declined to comment. Calls to the National Communication Authority were not immediately answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A police officer conducts traffic in the South Sudan capital Juba, where authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on January 17 in response to the unrest. (Photo: Reuters\/Samir Bol). The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media rights body, called on South Sudanese authorities to reverse their social media ban and ensure that the public has open and reliable internet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[34,83],"yoast_head":"\nSouth Sudan blocks social media access amid unrest - GT South Sudan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/goldentimessouthsudan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/south-sudan-blocks-social-media-access-amid-unrest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Sudan blocks social media access amid unrest - GT South Sudan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A police officer conducts traffic in the South Sudan capital Juba, where authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on January 17 in response to the unrest. 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