Media Defence and the Rule of Law Impact Lab at Stanford Law School have filed a lawsuit before the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court) challenging the Senegalese government’s shutdown of the Internet in June, July, and August of 2023. The case is brought on behalf of AfricTivistes, a pan-African civil society organisation registered in Senegal that seeks to protect democracy and human rights, and Senegalese journalists, Moussa Ngom and Ayoba Faye. The case argues that Senegal’s Internet restrictions breached the applicants’ right to freedom of expression as well as the journalists’ right to work, while significantly stifling media freedom and free expression in Senegal.

From 1 June until 8 June, 2023, in response to widespread demonstrations protesting the conviction of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the Senegalese government implemented a comprehensive shutdown of major social media platforms. From 4 June to 7 June, mobile internet services were entirely suspended in various regions, leaving many, including the applicants, unable to connect to the Internet. In response to further protests against Sonko’s second arrest, the Senegalese government again restricted the Internet from 31 July to 7 August, limiting access daily from 8am to 2am. Although mobile data was eventually reinstated on 7 August, TikTok, which had been restricted on 2 August, remained inaccessible until 7 February 2024.

The lawsuit was filed on 31 January , 2024, shortly before President Macky Sall announced the postponement of the presidential election originally scheduled for 25 February. On 4 February, Senegal’s Minister of Communication announced new measures to restrict mobile Internet access for security reasons, though 97% of Internet users depend on it...

The case seeks interim measures to shield the Senegalese public from further shutdowns in advance of the presidential election scheduled for 25 February 2024, which has now been postponed. Internet shutdowns before and during the election period would prevent the sharing of information about candidates and the election to Senegalese voters. Internet shutdowns would also threaten the transparency and integrity of the elections by impacting the independent monitoring of polling station results, since citizen observers often share polling results on social media.