Tanzania blocked Twitter/X, again

Access to the social media platform X has reportedly been blocked in Tanzania since May 2025, after the official police account was allegedly hacked to display pornographic content and spread false claims about the president’s death.

This is not the first time Tanzania has blocked social media. In October 2020, Tanzania restricted access to social media and instant messaging apps on the day of the election. In August 2024, Tanzania blocked access to Twitter/X amid protests that erupted following multiple arrests and abductions of opposition leaders.

The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of X domains (twitter.com and x.com) on multiple networks in Tanzania between 1st April 2025 to 7th July 2025.

As shown in the chart above, OONI Probe testing for twitter.com began to show a sharp increase in anomalies starting on 20th May 2025, suggesting potential blocking. These anomalies persisted and aligned closely with the timeframe reported by news media regarding the platform’s restriction. Although x.com received significantly less testing coverage compared to twitter.com, it also displayed a sustained spike in anomalies during the same period, suggesting a similar disruption.

OONI data collected from multiple networks in Tanzania shows that access to x.com and twitter.com has primarily been blocked in Tanzania by means of IP blocking, though there are indications of additional censorship techniques (such as TLS interference) being employed as well. While the block remains ongoing on several networks in the country, it’s worth noting that access to X is not blocked on all networks in Tanzania.

In August 2025, OONI published a detailed report analysing this block.

If you are in Tanzania, you can test Twitter/X and contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.