Sky News Network
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • National
  • Culture
  • Science & Technology
  • Opinion
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Sky News Network
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

To hell with you, Facebook deletes Museveni officials

skynewsbyskynews
January 12, 2021
in Featured
0
We want Museveni in prison-Bobi Wine asks ICC
0
SHARES
46
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterWhatsapp

Facebook has shut a slew of accounts belonging to Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections Thursday, the internet giant told AFP on Monday.
Facebook has shut down several accounts of a network in Uganda linked to the country’s Ministry of Information. The social media company accused the network of using fake accounts to promote the ruling party and the president.
The Facebook accounts shut down were allegedly linked to the “Citizens Interaction Center” at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.
In a statement, Facebook accuses the account holders of using fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users and re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.
Duncan Abigaba, the deputy head of the center, said the accounts were targeted because of their support for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement or NRM.
Abigaba said the action by Facebook is unfair since members of the opposition National Unity Platform party, led by singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, have been using social media to promote Wine’s presidential candidacy.
Uganda is holding presidential and parliamentary elections after a tense and bloody campaign, with President Yoweri Museveni, 76, facing a stiff challenge from the popstar-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 38.
“This month, we removed a network of accounts and pages in Uganda that engaged in CIB (Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour) to target public debate ahead of the election,” Facebook’s head of communication for sub-Saharan Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said in an email.
“They used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users, re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular that they were.”
Anim-Addo said the network was linked to the ministry of information and communications technology.
“Given the impending election in Uganda, we moved quickly to investigate and take down this network.”
Social media giants have come under increasing scrutiny over the content they allow to spread on their networks.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook blocked US President Donald Trump over incitement to violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last Wednesday, a move his backers see as an assault on free speech.
Museveni’s senior press secretary Don Wanyama, who saw both his Facebook and Instagram account shut down, accused the company of seeking to influence the election.
“Shame on the foreign forces that think they can aid and plant a puppet leadership on Uganda by disabling online accounts of (ruling party) NRM supporters,” he said on Twitter.
“You wont take away President Kaguta Museveni” he added, using the president’s second name.
Museveni’s online account is still active but many government officials and members of the ruling party have seen their pages taken down, including a well known blogger and Museveni supporter, a prominent doctor and a senior official in the information ministry.
The president has long accused foreign organizations and elements of backing Wine in a bid to remove his government.
The term Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour was invented by Facebook, which describes it as when “groups of pages or people work together to mislead others about who they are or what they are doing”.
The tech giant explains on its website that this is often linked to deceptive behaviour rather than content.
Anim-Addo said over 100 such networks seeking to manipulate public debate have been removed worldwide since 2017.
In December, networks managed from Russia and France — one linked to the French army — were deleted over accusations of interference operations in Africa.
And in October Facebook shut down the page of a conspiracy-fuelled political party in New Zealand accused of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus ahead of elections there.
In the wake of last week’s protests in Washington, tech giants Amazon, Apple and Google have all cut ties with Parler, a social media platform popular with some conservatives, likely to leave it without a hosting partner.
Uganda’s election has been marred by numerous arrests of opposition candidates and their supporters, as well as violence which saw at least 54 killed in protests in November.
Bobi Wine has a strong following among the poor and a young population who have known only the 35-year reign of Museveni, but the powerful incumbent is seen as almost impossible to unseat.

Source: Africanews
Plugin Install : Subscribe Push Notification need OneSignal plugin to be installed.
skynews

skynews

Related Posts

Without Kagame, the East African force for DRC is doomed
Featured

Without Kagame, the East African force for DRC is doomed

June 20, 2022
East African presidents to be examined again on regional integration
Featured

East African presidents to be examined again on regional integration

June 15, 2022
Kagame’s enemies in Uganda panic as Gen Muhoozi cracks the whip
Featured

Kagame’s enemies in Uganda panic as Gen Muhoozi cracks the whip

May 4, 2022

Popular Stories

  • How corruption has eaten up Uganda’s water corporation

    How corruption has eaten up Uganda’s water corporation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Uganda’s water boss lined up for sacking as wife shames minister in party elections

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • NWSC Board probes Silver Mugisha as Museveni unleashes intelligence on water ministry

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Assassinations: who is spilling blood in Uganda, and why?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Ugandan brokers sealed Museveni, Ruto deal throwing Kenyatta, Odinga into chaos

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Archives

About Us

We are the leading online news publication in Uganda with authentic and reliable news.

LEARN MORE »

Recent News

  • Prince Charles represents Queen at Commonwealth meeting in Rwanda June 22, 2022
  • New method can stop cyberattacks in less than a second June 21, 2022
  • We all have to work together in DRC, Museveni tells EAC colleagues June 21, 2022

Quick Links

  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact Us

Address

UJA House, Bombo Rd,

Keti Falawo Zone, Kawempe Division

Kampala – Uganda

© 2020 – Sky News Network

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • News
  • Business
  • National
  • Sports
  • Science & Technology
  • Agriculture & African Medicine
  • Travel
  • Opinion

© 2020 Sky News Uganda

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.