{"id":322473,"date":"2026-01-19T10:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322473"},"modified":"2026-01-19T10:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:19:06","slug":"uganda-maintains-social-media-ban-after-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322473","title":{"rendered":"Uganda maintains social media ban after election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/assets\/news_photos\/2026\/01\/18\/image-352320-1768740870.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"260\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>KAMPALA, Jan 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Uganda said it would maintain a ban\u00a0on social media platforms, while lifting a nationwide internet block hours\u00a0after Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner of national\u00a0elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The internet was blocked two days before polls opened on Thursday. While the\u00a0government said that was necessary to curb &#8220;misinformation&#8221;, the United\u00a0Nations labelled the decision &#8220;deeply worrying&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although much of the country remained calm after the vote, there were reports\u00a0of small-scale protests late Saturday after the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of Sunday morning, the security presence in Kampala appeared to have\u00a0significantly decreased with people out on the streets and shops open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Social media platforms&#8230; remain temporarily restricted to continue\u00a0safeguarding against misuse that could threaten public order,&#8221; said George\u00a0Nyombi Thembo, executive director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He confirmed the return of most of the internet, while justifying the days-long suspension as &#8220;necessary and proportionate&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cut was to &#8220;prevent the rapid spread of misinformation, disinformation,\u00a0and malinformation, to curb potential electoral fraud and protect against\u00a0incitement to violence during a highly sensitive national period&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thembo declined to say when full access would be restored, telling reporters:\u00a0&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to put estimate.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are a reasonable agency. We are a reasonable government. We don&#8217;t expect\u00a0this to exceed a reasonable time that will mitigate the risk that we are\u00a0seeing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It comes after an election characterised by low turnout and major security\u00a0deployments, as the government sought to prevent protests similar to those\u00a0seen in neighbouring Tanzania during polls in October last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts have long viewed Ugandan election as a formality, with Museveni\u00a0exerting total control over the state and security apparatus. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KAMPALA, Jan 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Uganda said it would maintain a ban\u00a0on social media platforms, while lifting a nationwide internet block hours\u00a0after Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner of national\u00a0elections. The internet was blocked two days before polls opened on Thursday. While the\u00a0government said that was necessary to curb &#8220;misinformation&#8221;, the United\u00a0Nations labelled the decision [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":322474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322473"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322475,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322473\/revisions\/322475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}