Tech giant Facebook has revealed that accounts belonging to some Ugandans were shut down to prevent them from manipulating Thursday’s poll.
“This month, we removed a network of accounts and pages in Uganda that engaged in CIB (Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour) to target public debate ahead of the election,” Facebook’s head of communication for sub-Saharan Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said in an email.
Last weekend, several NRM leaning members got the shock of their lives after they woke up to deleted accounts. Over 50 accounts were shut down.
In mid-December, Amnesty International called on Uganda to put a stop to alleged human rights violations ahead of the upcoming general and presidential elections.
The 14 January election will see President Yoweri Museveni, who has governed the country since 1986, pitted against several rivals, including his main one, singer Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, who was arrested and then released in November for an alleged violation of Uganda’s COVID-19 rules.
