Uganda Blocks Facebook Ahead of Contentious Election
President Yoweri Museveni accused the company of “arrogance” after it removed fake accounts and pages linked to his re-election campaign.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has 10 rivals in the election scheduled for Thursday, including the rapper-turned-lawmaker Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.Credit.Baz Ratner/Reuters
Jan. 13, 2021
NAIROBI, Kenya President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has blocked Facebook from operating in his country, just days after the social media company removed fake accounts linked to his government ahead of a hotly contested general election set to take place on Thursday.
In a televised address late on Tuesday night, Mr. Museveni accused Facebook of “arrogance” and said he had instructed his government to close the platform, along with other social media outlets, although Facebook was the only one he named.
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@donk enby and Parler (Twitter, Getty Images)
Right-wing social network platform, Parler, was taken offline in the early hours of Monday, January 12, at around 5 am EST, but not before a hacker found a way to retrieve all data posted by users including messages, images, videos and users’ location data shared during last week’s attack on the Capitol Hill building in Washington, DC.
The data taken from Parler is still being processed but President Donald Trump s followers are already voicing their concerns about what the data dump could reveal about them and their activity in Washington, DC last week. The app has already disappeared from the Apple and Google app stores after they cut ties with the right-wing platform.
AP Technology Writer
The website of the social media platform Parler is displayed in Berlin, Jan. 10, 2021. The platform s logo is on a screen in the background. The conservative-friendly social network Parler was booted off the internet Monday, Jan. 11, over ties to last week s siege on the U.S. Capitol, but not before hackers made off with an archive of its posts, including any that might have helped organize or document the riot. (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP)
The conservative-friendly social network Parler was booted off the internet Monday over ties to last week’s siege on the U.S. Capitol, but not before digital activists made off with an archive of its posts, including any that might have helped organize or document the riot.
Trump supporters and right-wing extremist groups are planning demonstrations that experts warn could escalate into the kind of violence seen during last week’s deadly riots at the Capitol.
Two days in particular are considered at high risk of coordinated and potentially violent activity: Jan. 17 and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
Trump supporters are expected to gather in Washington, D.C., and state capitals across the country on Sunday and then again three days later for the inauguration, according to law enforcement officials and experts monitoring online posts about the upcoming events. One flyer associated with Sunday’s gatherings tells participants to “come armed at your personal discretion.”