Gabon blames Meta for social media suspension

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LIBREVILLE - Gabon's presidency has blamed Meta's lack of content regulation to justify a decision taken earlier this week to suspend the social media giant's platforms, as some services remained offline Thursday.

Meta's Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram were among the online platforms suspended in Gabon late on Tuesday, as the government seeks to deal with a labour strike.

Facebook was still down on Thursday, AFP journalists noted, while WhatsApp was working intermittently. TikTok and YouTube, neither of which is owned by Meta, were also caught in the suspension.

Media regulator HAC had spoken of security concerns when it announced the suspension, arguing that online posts were stoking conflict, but the opposition denounced what it said was an abuse of power.

Presidency spokeswoman Jennyfer Melodie Sambat confirmed in an interview Wednesday evening with France's TV5 Monde that Meta's platforms had been targeted.

She blamed what she said were "defamatory publications that have been reported multiple times and which undermine social cohesion" in Gabon.

Meta had since been in touch to open talks, she added.

"It's been more than a year and a half that we have been warning them, including flagging these various publication," she added.

"It is inconceivable that after numerous alerts from the government that the group does nothing."

The online crackdown came as Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema faces his first wave of social unrest less than a year after having been elected. Teachers are on strike and other civil servants are threatening to follow.

Oligui overthrew then president Ali Bongo, whose family ruled the small central African country for 55 years, in 2023, then won the 2025 presidential election that followed his two-year transition from military rule.