February 10, 2021 On Jan. 11, Facebook and Twitter announced that they had taken down a network in Uganda, linked to the country’s ministry for information, for posting using fake and duplicate accounts. The platforms said that the fake accounts were participating in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” to target public discourse before the election. The Uganda Communications Commission swiftly followed up by shutting down the internet, including all messaging apps and social media platforms, from Jan. 12. This ban provides insight into how authoritarian regimes are likely to wrestle with the power of social media companies: by simply shutting them out. There is an inherent friction in having an authoritarian government running in parallel with an open, freely accessible internet. The initial wave of internet regulation in Africa mostly targeted users, with hate speech and misinformation laws as well as the imposition of digital taxes. The second wave of internet regulation laws is now targeting platforms by imposing demands.