Tiktok: Senegal suspends TikTok, says hurting the stability of the country

Senegal has reportedly suspended access to short video app TikTok until further notice. The suspension of Tiktok was announced by the communications minister. The restrictions on Tiktok come just days after restricting the use of mobile internet amid opposition protests.

“The minister… informs the public that it has been observed that the TikTok application is the social network favoured by people with bad intentions to spread hateful and subversive messages threatening the stability of the country,” the minister’s statement said.
The West African country has also restricted access to internet services since Monday, using a similar justification. These restrictions come after the country’s opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was charged with plotting an insurrection, criminal conspiracy and other offences.

Senegal has seen sporadic violent protests throughout the year, as opposition supporters have accused President Macky Sall of levelling charges against Sonko with the aim to disqualify him from the next election.
Earlier this year Restic, an association of companies in the information and communication technology sector, had filed complaint against Tiktok. “We would like social networks in general and TikTok in particular to be able to open up to us, to the official authorities of this country, to at least clarify these storage mechanisms. data on children and adolescents who open accounts in these networks. And see under what conditions these data are preserved so that they cannot be used for any other purpose for which they were initially intended,” claimed Restic in the compliant.