Tanzania’s Digital Darkness How a Nationwide Blackout Crippled a Nation

For five days in late October 2025, Tanzania’s internet fell largely silent as the country went to the polls. Connectivity dropped to a trickle, payments stalled, newsrooms and creators were cut off, and families struggled to reach loved ones. Service came back, but restrictions on major social platforms lingered, raising tough questions about rights, transparency, and economic resilience.

• Connectivity plunged to near-zero nationwide during the October 2025 general election, then slowly returned after five days.
• The blackout overlapped with protests and violence, with the opposition reporting heavy casualties.
• Cross-border money transfers paused, including an 18-hour halt at Nala Payments that affected families’ daily needs.
• Creators and small businesses lost vital income as social platforms and live streaming were blocked.
• Internet access resumed, but some social media restrictions persisted and uncertainty remains around free expression.

What triggered the shutdown?

The blackout landed in the middle of a tense vote. President Samia Suluhu Hassan was re-elected in a process criticized after several opposition contenders were barred. As protests spread, the opposition’s Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka said the death toll could be in the hundreds. A CBS News correspondent reported that President Hassan sought to cement control with a commanding win and mute internal critics. Cutting access to the internet, you could argue, limited what the public could see and say as tensions rose.

How severe was the outage?

Independent monitors such as NetBlocks observed national traffic falling to roughly a tenth of usual levels. Messaging apps and social platforms became unreachable without a VPN. The blackout was broad enough to stall everyday tasks that now depend on connectivity, from mobile banking to ride-hailing and e-commerce.

Did newsrooms and families really go dark?

Yes. Reporters in Dar es Salaam and Arusha said Facebook and WhatsApp were unreachable unless you tunneled through a VPN, as TechCabal reported. The government told public servants to work from home, according to Chief Government Spokesperson Gerson Msigwa. With internet service crippled, remote work was largely impossible for most people who rely on cloud tools, real-time messaging, and digital payments.

Where did the economic pain show up first?

Payments and logistics took an immediate hit. NetBlocks’ data showed national connectivity at about 10 percent of normal, which made routine transactions fail. Nala Payments, a key channel for remittances, suspended operations for 18 hours. CEO Benjamin Fernandes put it bluntly. For 18 hours, families in Tanzania could not receive money from loved ones abroad because the internet was out. For many households this was not a tech problem, it was food, medicine, and hospital bills.

The shock underscored just how much livelihoods now depend on stable connectivity in Africa’s fast-growing fintech ecosystem. USSD offered some workarounds for balance checks and basic transfers, but cross-border flows and app-driven services suffered most.

How were creators and small businesses affected?

They were hit hard. Many Tanzanian artists, influencers, and small shops depend on Instagram and TikTok to sell, book gigs, and connect with fans. With live streaming disabled, a crucial revenue tap shut off overnight. Some creators also saw their physical businesses damaged during unrest. Local artists including Bill Nas and Shishi were among those who reportedly lost shops to arson, according to The Chanzo. With no way to update customers or monetize content, income dried up fast.

Recommended Tech

In times of digital uncertainty and government restrictions, securing your online presence matters. Many in Tanzania turned to VPNs to bypass blocks, but not all tools are equal. For broader protection, The TechBull recommends a suite like Aura, which combines VPN, antivirus, and identity theft monitoring to help safeguard privacy when access is unstable.

What do rights groups say?

Digital rights advocates and regional bodies condemned the blackout. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights said shutdowns violate Article 9 of the African Charter, which protects the right to receive information. The Commission’s October 30, 2025 statement called internet shutdowns a clear violation. The debate echoes wider concerns that restrictive rules and outages chill speech and slow innovation, similar to the controversy around Kenya’s suspended cyber laws.

Has the situation fully returned to normal?

Not entirely. After five days, access came back, as The Register reported, yet several social and messaging apps stayed restricted. NetBlocks and other watchdogs continue to track service quality and blocks. The opposition remains wary. Chadema’s John Kitoka warned that the death toll might be higher than reported and alleged abuses under curfew, as CBS News noted.

How can people prepare for future shutdowns?

If you live or operate a business in a place where connectivity can be cut, a few simple steps can make a real difference:

• Keep critical contacts and documents available offline, including medical info and IDs.
• Set up SMS and USSD fallbacks for payments and banking where possible.
• Maintain at least one secondary SIM on a different network for redundancy.
• Download offline maps and arrange backup meeting points with family or staff.
• Mirror essential business systems to tools that still work offline, then sync later.
• Hold some cash for essentials when digital payments stall.

What we are watching

Whether restrictions on social media lift fully. What safeguards, if any, are introduced to protect access during elections. And how banks, fintechs, and creators design around single points of failure after a stress test that exposed just how fragile the digital economy can be.

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