Twitter and Facebook restricted on election day

As Ugandans went to the polls to decide their next set of leaders, social media platforms in the country where on lockdown.

Yesterday morning, which was the day of voting, users reported that access to Facebook and Twitter had been blocked on most of the country's mobile network. Although the lockdown seemed effective, it was not total. Some people were able to access social media to report the issue, which is how the information came to light in the first place.

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The most resourceful users who reported the issue seemed to be using VPNs as well as the Opera Mini mobile browser to bypass the network restrictions. Instagram and WhatsApp, on the other hand, seemed to be completely unaffected.

A lot of people in Uganda accused the Ugandan Communications Association (UCC) of masterminding the blockade. Major mobile ISPs were also reported to be affected by the Facebook and Twitter restrictions including MTN, Airtel, Smile, Africell, and Vodafone.

Airtel's money transfer service was also reported to have been down.

A total of 16 million people were expected to have participated in the polls, and social media was expected to have helped kept the elections open.