Social media use is common nowadays but authorities all over the world have been blocking access to these platforms of late around the world due to a variety of reasons. The next country to do this is Zimbabwe thanks to the numerous updates being posted on Twitter and the affected platform is the hugely popular chatting app, WhatsApp.
OFFICIAL #Zimbabwe REGIME HAS #SHUTDOWN @WhatsApp #ZimShutDown PLEASE RT FOR AWARENESS‼️
— African (@ali_naka) July 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/ubuntugraphy/status/750611364205498368
Apparently from the reports being passed around on social media and on Techzim, there were protests in Harare and Beitbridge of which several photos and videos were shot and shared on WhatsApp and Facebook. Apparently some of these videos included police brutality against protesters and journalists and others were vice versa. That is not all, there are also people who are reporting that the ban will include other social networking platforms.
BREAKING! News just came from high level sources; Zimbabwe government is in advanced plan to ban and block all social media in days to come.
— Bla B (@bmusonza) July 6, 2016
When these situations happen, one of the ways to connect back to these social networking platforms is by using VPNs and this was the case here where people started urging others to install them.
Zimbabwe for whatsapp Install a VPN.
1.Open google play/appstore
2. Search VPN
3.install
Spread word@PastorEvanLive #tajamuka @Wamagaisa— War Vet (@kaWarVet) July 6, 2016
You cannot deny the power of WhatsApp since it is in every mobile platform you can think off and we have seen its access being cut off in other countries like Uganda during the elections and in Algeria, its mothership Facebook was banned thanks to exams. This comes at a time when a UN Council passed a resolution where it condemned the various Internet shutdowns all over the world and recognized the Internet as a human right. In the same report, it was highlighted that there were over 20 shutdowns in the first half of this year alone and it seems the trend is still on an upward trajectory.
