Tanzania Reportedly Blocks X Amid Opposition Crackdown

The East African nation of Tanzania has reportedly restricted access to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). This ongoing outage has been confirmed by Netblocks, an internet observatory organization. The incident coincides with a police alert regarding alleged plans by the opposition party to raid police stations. Prominent politician Tundu Lissu and four other opposition officials from the Chadema party were arrested in Tanzania. The Tanzanian police force has warned Chadema members organizing protests via Zoom, claiming these meetings are being used to plan small-scale raids. Tanzanians have resorted to using VPNs to access X and express their frustrations. Last year, the government considered introducing a mandatory license for VPN use.