Governments and Social Media.

This is all going to be focused on a few countries and some rambling here and there. (Edits will be made in case there are errors in the text and information.) 
 

Back in 2025 the US Government wanted to ban TikTok because of "Chinese spies". So, from January 18th until the 20th. They continued to put in deadlines etc. But those really never came to light. 
 
Now, let's fast forward to 2026 the UAE Government is arresting people for posting pictures and videos of missiles on social media under their cyber-crime laws with being accused of sharing inaccurate and misleading information and with a statement the Dubai police made on social media they said, "Sharing rumors, false information, or any content that contradicts official announcements or that may cause public panic or threaten public safety, order, or health is prohibited."  
There's some speculation that they're cracking down on images and videos being shared to keep the look of being the "holiday destination" for tourists and foreigners and wanting to appear completely "safe" and "the perfect destination to go to for the holidays" or for economic reasons as well with the strait of Hormuz closed due to Iran bombing any ship that goes through.  
 
So, war being a reason for blocking any post that mentions the bombs and missiles hitting major cities in the UAE. During the Russo-Ukraine war, the Russian Federation blocked Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. (And restricting Twitter (X))  
 

And also, for purely political reasons during elections. Not sure if anyone knows, but there's a tiny little country in Equatorial Africa called Gabon, and in August 2023, during the presidential elections, Ali Bongo had apparently won. This caused lots of anger, so at around 4–5 in the morning, the coup started. (This will be in my point of view, from what I remember personally.)

I remember at around 10 PM at night, I had gotten up from bed and went to sleep in my brother's room on his floor, and around 4 or 5 in the morning, my dad came into the room telling us to wake up and put our clothes on. Gunshots in the distance were ringing, and I had grabbed my bag with my personal belongings, packing in my laptop and a few pieces of clothes in it. My mom then told me that if it went any way worse, that the French embassy would come get us (or something like that). Anyways, we grabbed the mattress from my parents' bed and put it against the window.

So, we just sat in the dark, listening as gunshots rang out in the background and the dogs in the neighborhood barking. Eventually, around 6–7 AM, it eventually quiet down and the internet came back on. I immediately went on my phone, and on TikTok, there were lives of people just celebrating that Ali Bongo was no longer in power. Faces were painted with the Gabonese flag colours and more. It felt surreal at the time.

If you experienced something similar to this or had an experience with your government shutting down the internet for politics and etc share it in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading this far,
this was all written by Rome Hoal.