{
  "title": "Ladder: shutdowns and blocking, in Africa",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking?continent=africa",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "africa"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
    "name": "Shutdowns and blocking",
    "definition": "A government cuts internet or mobile telephone service, blocks news websites or social media platforms, or jams radio and television signals, so that audiences cannot receive news and reporters cannot send it out.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/shutdowns_and_blocking"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 3,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "silence",
      "name": "Silence",
      "definition": "Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "1985-south-africa-state-of-emergency-media-ban",
          "title": "South Africa bans television and photographic coverage of unrest under a state of emergency",
          "occurred_on": "1985-11-02",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "ZA",
          "country_name": "South Africa",
          "continent": "africa",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 21,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "p-w-botha",
          "leader_name": "P. W. Botha",
          "what_was_done": "Under a state of emergency State President P. W. Botha had declared in July 1985, the government banned television, radio and photographic coverage of unrest in South Africa's Black townships on November 2, 1985, requiring print journalists to report only under police escort.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1990-06-01",
          "outcome_note": "South Africa's state of emergency and its media restrictions ended in June 1990 as State President F. W. de Klerk began dismantling apartheid.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1985-south-africa-state-of-emergency-media-ban"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2020-ethiopia-tigray-internet-blackout",
          "title": "Ethiopia: internet and phone service cut across Tigray",
          "occurred_on": "2020-11-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "month",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "ET",
          "country_name": "Ethiopia",
          "continent": "africa",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 148,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "abiy-ahmed",
          "leader_name": "Abiy Ahmed",
          "what_was_done": "Ethiopia's government cut internet and telephone service across the Tigray region when war broke out there in November 2020, leaving the region without communication for months and forcing reporters to travel there to learn what was happening.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2021-05-03",
          "outcome_note": "As of the May 2021 source, service had been only partially restored in the regional capital and surrounding areas.",
          "ladder_note": "Ethiopia cut internet and phone service to an entire region for months during a civil war, leaving reporters unable to confirm events without traveling there in person; no United States action in the record has cut off a region's communications.",
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-ethiopia-tigray-internet-blackout"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-tanzania-internet-shutdown-election-day",
          "title": "Tanzania shuts down internet access on election day amid unrest",
          "occurred_on": "2025-10-29",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "TZ",
          "country_name": "Tanzania",
          "continent": "africa",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 117,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 117th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "samia-suluhu-hassan",
          "leader_name": "Samia Suluhu Hassan",
          "what_was_done": "Tanzania's government restricted internet and social-media access on October 29, 2025, as citizens voted in a general election marked by protests, cutting national internet traffic by nearly 90 percent and leaving both local and foreign journalists unable to report on the vote and its aftermath in…",
          "outcome": "unknown",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "Authorities did not explain the shutdown, and disruptions to social platforms continued for several days after the vote.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-tanzania-internet-shutdown-election-day"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}