Cameroon blocked social media amid post-election protests

Amid post-election protests, OONI data suggests that Cameroon blocked access to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram.

We first noticed a huge spike in OONI Probe installations and measurements from Cameroon on 1st November 2025. Over the years, we’ve observed that such spikes typically coincide with increases in censorship events, which prompt people to install OONI Probe, run tests, gather evidence, and contribute open data on blocks. This appears to have been the case in Cameroon over the past week, as OONI data not only showed a sudden surge in measurement coverage but also indicated that access to several social media platforms was blocked. In response, we encouraged additional OONI Probe testing in Cameroon, specifically to collect more measurements related to the accessibility of social media platforms.

OONI data collected from Cameroon suggests that access to TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram was blocked over the past week, as illustrated below.

The above chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of www.facebook.com, www.instagram.com, and www.tiktok.com on multiple networks in Cameroon between 6th October 2025 to 7th November 2025. As is evident, we observe a large spike in anomalies between 1st to 5th November 2025, suggesting that access to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok was blocked on some networks in Cameroon during this period. Their block is further suggested by the fact that the testing of multiple Facebook and Instagram endpoints also presented anomalies on many networks in Cameroon during the same period.

It’s worth noting though that, throughout this period, some measurements were successful, indicating that these social media platforms were accessible on a few networks in Cameroon. This is corroborated from a per-network breakdown of measurement coverage for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The testing of all three social media platforms presented the largest volume of anomalies on Orange (AS36912), CAMTEL (AS15964), NEWTELNET (AS328866), but they were found accessible on a few other networks during the same period.

OONI data suggests that these blocks are implemented by means of TLS interference. Specifically, most anomalous OONI measurements show that while connections to the resolved IP addresses were successful (ruling out transient network failures), the sessions consistently timed out immediately after the Client Hello message during the TLS handshake – suggesting that filtering is applied based on the Server Name Indication (SNI) field.

Beyond Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, OONI data suggests that access to Telegram was blocked in Cameroon during this period as well. The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of the Telegram app on 11 networks in Cameroon between 6th October 2025 to 7th November 2025.

Similar to the testing of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, OONI Probe tests of the Telegram app showed a significant surge in anomalies, primarily between 31st October 2025 to 5th November 2025. When looking at the anomalous measurements, we see that Telegram’s web version is blocked because the HTTPS GET requests to web.telegram.org result in failures, while most attempted connections to Telegram mobile app endpoints failed too. A per-network measurement breakdown reveals that Telegram was not blocked across all networks; anomalies were mainly observed on Orange (AS36912) and CAMTEL (AS15964) — consistent with the network patterns previously identified in the blocking of social media platforms.

Community members in Cameroon reported difficulties in accessing YouTube, but OONI data does not provide strong signals corroborating this. Between 6th October 2025 to 7th November 2025, YouTube was tested on 12 networks in Cameroon and was found accessible on most networks (mainly presenting signs of blocking on just two networks). Quite similarly, the Google Transparency Report does not show a drop in YouTube traffic from Cameroon during this period, suggesting that YouTube was accessible on most networks in Cameroon.

But often, when access to major social media platforms is restricted, the tools people use to bypass such blocks are targeted as well. Out of all the circumvention tool websites tested in Cameroon over the past week, PureVPN, Proton VPN, and Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN presented the largest volume of anomalies. The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of PureVPN, Proton VPN, and Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN websites on multiple networks in Cameroon between 6th October 2025 to 7th November 2025.

Similar to the blocking of social media platforms discussed previously, we observe a surge in anomalies between 1st to 5th November 2025. The anomalous data reveals that access to these VPN sites was blocked by means of TLS interference, because even though the connections to the resolved IP addresses were successful, the sessions consistently timed out immediately after the Client Hello message during the TLS handshake. According to the Proton VPN Internet Censorship Observatory, Proton VPN usage in Cameroon surged by more than 3000% starting on 23rd October 2025 – a spike that may have prompted ISPs to attempt to block access to the service. PureVPN access appears to have been restricted earlier, with anomalies detected in measurements from the preceding month, though these findings are based on a relatively small sample of tests.

Overall, these blocks appear to have been lifted on most networks in Cameroon by 6th November 2025. If you are in Cameroon, you can help monitor censorship events and contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.