(Dar es Salaam) – The Tanzanian government has shut down access to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, following the hacking of the country’s national police account. The move came just hours after false messages were posted claiming that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had died.
On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, NetBlocks, a London-based internet observatory that monitors cybersecurity and digital rights, confirmed that the platform was inaccessible across major internet service providers (ISPs) in Tanzania. These included Halotel, Airtel, Liquid Telecom, Habari Node, and Vodacom.
NetBlocks reported that the shutdown followed the hacking incident on Tuesday morning, when the Tanzanian Police Force’s official X account was taken over and used to publish misleading content. One of the posts falsely claimed that the president had passed away, a statement that triggered swift condemnation and response from the government.
“The X platform has been rendered inaccessible via all major ISPs across Tanzania,” NetBlocks stated. “This follows the hacking of the Tanzanian Police Force’s X account, which was used to spread false claims regarding the President’s death—claims that angered the government.”
The Tanzanian authorities have since regained control of the police account, which has over 470,000 followers. The government has announced that it is investigating the cyberattack and tracking down the perpetrators responsible.
The hacking incident occurred during a sensitive political moment in the country. It followed criticism directed at the government over its handling of foreign human rights activists and lawyers who had arrived in Tanzania to attend a high-profile treason trial involving opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
The trial resumed on Monday, May 19, 2025, over a month after Lissu, a senior member of the CHADEMA opposition party, was arrested and detained on April 9, 2025. The presence of international observers at the trial drew attention, but some were denied entry or detained.
Among those blocked from attending the court proceedings were Martha Karua, leader of Kenya’s People’s Liberation Party (PLP); former Chief Justice of Kenya Willy Mutunga; and several human rights activists including Hussein Khalid, Hanifah Adan, Lynn Ngugi, and Gloria Kimani. Two others, Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda, were reportedly detained in Dar es Salaam by military officers, and their whereabouts remained unknown as of Wednesday.
Amnesty International reported that the Tanzanian government was preparing to deport Mwangi and Atuhaire, raising further concerns about the shrinking space for civil society in the country.
Speaking later on Wednesday, President Samia Suluhu addressed the issue directly. She declared that her administration would not tolerate foreign activists interfering in what she described as internal national matters.
“They have destroyed their own countries, and we will not allow them to come here and ruin ours. That will not happen,” President Suluhu said during a public address at the launch of Tanzania’s new foreign policy framework.
President Suluhu, who has faced criticism for rolling back democratic reforms and being compared to her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, defended the actions of Tanzanian security forces. She stated that they would not permit outsiders to incite unrest among the population.