Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Equatorial Guinea has cut off access to Facebook and TikTok for more than two weeks, a sweeping digital blackout that followed the circulation of a viral video accusing the country’s vice-president of corruption and the subsequent arrest of the young woman who posted it.
The country’s most popular online platforms have been unreachable since early September, according to an AFP journalist in the capital Malabo, with internet speeds deliberately throttled from September 2. Only users with virtual private networks have been able to bypass the restrictions. Other Meta-owned platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, remain partially accessible but heavily limited, leaving millions of citizens reliant on workarounds to communicate, conduct business and access information.
The blackout followed the emergence of a video in which a young woman accused Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, of corruption. The woman was arrested shortly after the video began circulating. Authorities have not publicly acknowledged the arrest or commented on the video’s contents. The information ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The timing and precision of the shutdown, however, have left little doubt about what triggered it.
The vice-president, widely known by the nickname Teodorin, has long been a lightning rod for corruption allegations. He was convicted in absentia by a French court in 2021 in a landmark “ill-gotten gains” trial that exposed how he had used state funds to bankroll a lifestyle of luxury mansions, sports cars and celebrity-grade art. His assets were subsequently frozen in the United Kingdom following separate investigations into corruption. He is known for flaunting his wealth on social media, a habit that has made him a target of public anger in a country where most citizens live in poverty despite vast oil and gas reserves.
Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by President Obiang since 1979, making him the world’s longest-serving head of state. His government is routinely accused by international human rights organisations of suppressing dissent, censoring journalists and detaining political opponents. In its 2026 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House gave the country a score of zero for political rights and civil liberties, classifying it as one of the most repressive regimes on the African continent. The country’s media landscape is equally constrained, with pre-censorship described as the norm by Reporters Without Borders, which notes that defamation and slander lawsuits are routinely weaponised against journalists. Social media has, for years, been one of the few remaining spaces where citizens could discuss politics, expose graft and organise quietly around shared grievances.
The current shutdown is not an isolated incident but the latest chapter in a longer pattern of digital repression. Equatorial Guinea experienced a targeted 14-month shutdown on Annobón Island beginning in August 2024, isolating roughly 5,300 residents from the outside world for more than a year. Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition have documented repeated short-term cuts and localised blackouts across the country. In 2025 alone, internet shutdowns were recorded in 15 African countries, with Equatorial Guinea among six Central African nations cited by digital rights group Paradigm Initiative as serial offenders. Governments across the region typically justify such measures by citing national security, social cohesion and the need to combat disinformation, arguments that digital rights advocates dismiss as pretexts for silencing criticism.
The regional context matters. In Gabon, which shares a border with Equatorial Guinea, social media access has been blocked since February 2026, officially to combat content deemed to undermine institutional stability and national security. NetBlocks estimates that Gabon’s restrictions cost the country approximately CFA1 billion per day, or nearly CFA30 billion per month. Paradigm Initiative calculated that a 60-day social media block in Gabon caused potential losses exceeding US$66 million. The economic damage extends beyond advertising and e-commerce to encompass the informal economy, where small businesses, delivery drivers and content creators depend heavily on social platforms for their livelihoods. Access Now has warned that such shutdowns violate the right to development alongside freedom of expression and access to information.
The most immediate consequence of the blackout in Equatorial Guinea is the silencing of a corruption allegation at precisely the moment it was gaining traction. The viral video was, by the government’s own implicit admission, significant enough to warrant a nationwide digital shutdown. The woman who posted it was arrested. The platforms that carried it are now inaccessible. What remains is a familiar pattern: a regime that controls traditional media, restricts digital space, and detains those who speak out. The world outside Equatorial Guinea may learn what the young woman said. Inside the country, millions of citizens cannot.
For now, the information ministry has remained silent, offering no explanation, no timeline and no acknowledgment that a shutdown is even taking place. Internet users who can afford VPNs continue to navigate around the restrictions. Those who cannot are cut off from the online spaces where political debate, business transactions and social connection once took place. The blackout has no announced end date. In Equatorial Guinea, the silence is the message.
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