Tanzania Bans Nation Media’s Online Unit for Critical Content

(Bloomberg) — Tanzania has suspended the digital division of the nation’s biggest media house, after it released an animated piece about abductions of people critical of the nation’s leaders.

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The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority suspended online media licenses for Mwananchi Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Nation Media Group Plc, saying it published content that “threatens and is likely to affect and harm national unity and social peace.”

In an 80 second animated video, a woman that’s ostensibly President Samia Suluhu Hassan sits down to watch television and all the channels she flips through have items of family members lamenting about missing kin.

TCRA placed a 30-day ban on Mwananchi saying the content was against public order and aimed to ridiculing and harming the reputation and status of Tanzania.

Before the ban, Mwananchi deleted the animation that it said “depicted events that raised concerns regarding the safety and security of individuals in Tanzania” from its social media platforms.

“Our decision to take down the animation stems from the misinterpretation it has generated, which diverges from our original intent,” it said in a statement.

The Tanganyika Law Society has published a list of 83 people who it says were abducted by state agents between 2016 and 2024.

On Sept. 6, Ally Mohamed Kibao, a senior member of the main opposition Chadema party, was captured by armed men in plain clothes. His body was discovered a day later brutally beaten, with his face doused with acid.

Deusdedith Soka, an active Chadema youth leader, was seized in August along with two other people. They are still missing. Hassan has ordered an investigation into the abductions and Kibao’s murder.

Police banned a Sept. 23 street march organized by Chadema to protest the abductions. It arrested party Chairman Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu, who were later released without charge.