Embarrassed By Its Own Wiretap Scandal, Mauritius Gov’t Hits Citizens With A Social Media Ban

It’s the sort of thing we see a lot of: a government gets caught doing something wrong and decides it’s the public that needs to suffer for the government’s sins.

So it goes in the African island nation of Mauritius, which got caught engaging in presumably illegal surveillance. The only reason residents know this is because someone leaked the recordings, which covered a wide range of government and non-government entities.

The recent wiretapping scandal involved approximately 20 leaked conversations of high-ranking politicians, police officers, lawyers, journalists, and civil society members. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported that the surveillance targeted five prominent journalists, raising concerns about press freedom and source protection. 

Whether or not this is the source of the leaks, the Mauritius government arrested the former CEO of Mauritius Telecom, which is partially owned by the government. While the government might not have been bothered by the eavesdropping on journalists, it certainly seemed embarrassed about recordings involving government employees and officials, like this particularly disturbing conversation detailed in Al Jazeera’s coverage of the recent developments:

Another leak involved the police commissioner apparently asking a forensic doctor to alter a report on a person who died after being beaten in police custody. The audio leak prompted a judicial investigation.

Yeah, not great. But the response from the government has been equally terrible. Rather than deal with the leaks responsibly (as appears to have been the case above), it has unilaterally declared that spreading the leaks will somehow undermine the nation’s security. So, there’s no more social media access for citizens because the ruling party trying to survive this scandal has decided it’s just not going to allow anyone to talk about this until after the November 10 election.

Mauritius’ Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) published a statement Friday implementing a comprehensive suspension of social media access across the island nation.

The statement directed all internet service providers to “suspend access to all social media platforms,” citing “illegal postings” that could affect national security and public safety. This measure, confirmed by the Netblocks Internet Observatory as affecting Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, is set to continue through November 11, one day after the country’s general election.

The ban’s effects have already been observed by outsiders, who have confirmed this ban proclamation is more than an empty threat.

Given the timing, the subject matter, and the demographics (so to speak) of those subjected to this eavesdropping, it’s immediately apparent this has nothing to do with securing a nation and everything to do with securing power. The current political majority and prime minister want to prevent being further embarrassed or exposed by further leaks. And the easiest way to do this is to block access to services where these leaks might be shared.

And that’s a larger problem for Mauritius and its residents. The country is normally considered to be one of the more stable countries in Africa, seldom subjected to coups, genocide, and oppression that plagues other African nations. With this quick move from embarrassment to mass censorship, the current party in power is demonstrating it would rather be part of the problematic, rather than allow the country to remain on the peaceful, mostly-open path it’s been on for several years.

True, there have been warning signs the current government wants to increase its power at the expense of its citizens’ rights, but this social media blocking order is a mask-off moment that hopefully will be greeted by the peaceful revolt known as “throwing the bastards” out when the public heads to the polls on November 10.