Gabon's media regulator lifts social media suspension in force since 17 February

Gabon's media regulator lifted its nationwide suspension of social media on 24 October 2026, ending a measure that had been in force since 17 February.

The Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC) took the decision at an extraordinary plenary session chaired by its president, Germain Ngoyo Moussavou, and announced it in a communiqué he signed. The HAC's spokesperson, Jean-Claude Franck Mendome, said in a statement read on national television that the HAC had decided to lift the suspension, AFP reported on 25 October.

The suspension, which lasted about eight months, cut off Facebook and TikTok, the most-used platforms in the Central African country, as well as YouTube and Instagram. WhatsApp worked on and off. The HAC imposed the suspension citing the spread of defamatory content, cyberbullying, hate speech and threats against the country's institutions and national unity. It had also said the suspension aimed to "allow the government to adapt its legal framework to better regulate social media".

In its communiqué, the regulator said it had held direct talks with Meta, TikTok and YouTube, and that exchange protocols with the platforms "have been set up and are operational for real-time regulation" (translated from French). The protocols give the HAC access to the platforms' reporting tools so that it can act on illegal content. Direct Infos Gabon, a Gabonese news site, said the access covers the priority reporting tools of TikTok, YouTube and Meta's Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, so that illegal content can be moderated and removed in real time.

Ngoyo Moussavou linked the decision to three ordinances that Gabon's president adopted at the Council of Ministers on 26 February 2026, the Gabonese news agency Agence Équateur wrote. The ordinances were published in the Official Journal on 8 April 2026. Ordinance No. 0011/PR/2026 regulates the use of social networks through digital platforms; Ordinance No. 0012/PR/2026 amends the Communication Code; and Ordinance No. 0013/PR/2026 amends the 2023 law reorganising the HAC.

The third ordinance extends the regulator's oversight to digital platforms, social networks and search engines, and lets it order independent technical audits of the platforms' systems for detecting illegal content, according to the legal news site Droit Médias Finance.

Social media users must now provide formal identification, effectively ending online anonymity. Ordinance No. 0011/PR/2026 runs to 55 articles in 11 chapters, the economic news agency Ecofin reported on 13 April. To use digital platforms, people must give their name, address and Personal Identification Number (NIP), and service providers must verify the identity of users living in Gabon. Platforms must also run age verification and automated moderation tools, and administrators of social media groups must moderate content and report violations.

The ordinance sets a digital age of majority of 16, with parental consent required for younger users. Authorities can order content removed or accounts suspended within 24 hours through judicial procedures, and people affected have a right of reply within 48 hours. Operators that break the rules face fines of up to CFA50 million (about US$89,415, Ecofin's conversion), and platforms have 12 months to comply. Content generated by artificial intelligence must be labelled in a visible and permanent way.

To get around the suspension, thousands of people in Gabon switched to virtual private networks (VPNs), and small businesses and media outlets complained of heavy economic losses from the loss of digital channels, the Gabonese news site Gabon Media Time reported. The HAC urged social media users to show more responsibility and maturity in their exchanges and behaviour online.

Official delegations from Meta and TikTok are expected in Libreville to refine the moderation arrangements, the regulator said.