FILE – In this Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016 file photo, Uganda’s long-time President Yoweri Museveni attends an election rally at Kololo Airstrip in Kampala, Uganda. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:48 AM PT – Thursday, January 14, 2021
Social media giants Twitter and Facebook are crying the victim after the government of Uganda shut them down ahead of a general election.
“Uganda is ours, it’s not anybody’s,” stated Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda. “Those Facebook and those other groups do not respond here and as such the government has closed the social media.”
The President warns that if the social media channels like @Facebook and @Twitter are not being friendly and equitable to some of the Ugandans, then there is no reason as to why we should have them operate here. @OfwonoOpondo #M7Address pic.twitter.com/OOBioV3nGe
— Government of Uganda (@GovUganda) January 12, 2021
Twitter and Facebook have condemned the decision by Ugandan authorities as “censorship” despite them censoring President Trump and other Republicans in the U.S. Critics have said the social media giants show a double standard as well as hypocrisy.
“This is unfortunate, but it is unavoidable,” President Museveni continued. “There’s no way anyone can come and play around with our country, to decide who is good, who is bad…this one we will stop, this one we will leave…we cannot accept that.”
Ugandan authorities are now investigating opposition leader Bobi Wine, a popular singer with a history of opposing the government’s position, on access to social media.
Uganda’s leading opposition challenger Bobi Wine leaves the polling station after voting in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Ugandans are voting in a presidential election tainted by widespread violence that some fear could escalate as security forces try to stop supporters of Wine from monitoring polling stations.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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