Citizens of Chad have now been unable to access popular social media platforms for an entire year. Since 28 March 2018, Facebook, Viber, Twitter and WhatsApp have all been blocked on mobile devices, leaving families unable to communicate securely and journalists helpless to report on developments to the outside world.

The outage began after widespread protests emerged which sought to prevent constitutional changes that would allow Idriss Déby rule until 2033. The new constitution has since been passed into law and has removed significant obstacles to his power, despite opposition parties boycotting the process.

The 66-year-old has been in power for 29 years and has introduced several harsh austerity measures in the past five years in an attempt to regain stability after falling oil prices crippled the economy in 2014.

In the run-up to the year anniversary since the blackout began, a number of organisations have launched campaigns that seek to raise awareness about the issue and help citizens circumvent the regressive internet restrictions.

On 12 March 2019, 80 organisations signed a petition sent to Lawrence Mute of the African Union Human and David Kaye of the United Nations in a bid to increase international pressure on Déby's regime.

The petition, which states that "the social media blackout in Chad violates the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and access to information," was signed by organisations from around the world, including Access Now, Internet Without Borders and the World Wide Web Foundation.

The petition calls for both recipients to "use the powers of your office to publicly denounce the social media blackout" which may help "restore access to all social media platforms throughout the country."

On 23 March, a press release was published by Lawrence Mute stating that he had issued a letter of appeal to the Chadian government regarding the issue, although no further update has been provided at the time of writing.

Additionally, according to Juliet Nanfuka of the digital rights advocacy group, CIPESA, "there has been no explanation as to why the shutdown was initiated from the regime" which has dramatically limited the potential for dialogue with the government.

Alongside the formal petitions, there has been a growing movement on Twitter to raise awareness of the issue, with the hashtag #Maalla_Gatétou gaining considerable traction over the past weeks.

Other charities have initiated campaigns to distribute Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to people in Chad to help them bypass the blocks. VPNs have become an important piece of technology for activists in the region wanting to bypass digital censorship laws and retain anonymity online.

As the petition sent to the African Union and United Nations says, "businesses, schools and other institutions which rely on the Internet for their operations are forced to resort to the use of VPNs, which comes at an extra cost."

VPN access

In one of the poorest countries in the world, a VPN subscription is not available to all. That's why organisations like Internet Without Borders have been fundraising to help deliver free VPNs to their network of activists, journalists and human rights defenders.

Juliet Nunfake told Callum Tennent: "VPNs are very useful in contexts where independent journalists, bloggers, activists and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) face reprisals for expressing legitimate opinions. They give them confidence to keep working for improved governance where, if they couldn't operate anonymously, they would either risk getting arrested or prosecuted."

With the rise of organised opposition to the social media blackout, however, reports are now emerging that the regime is attempting to track down activists and prevent them from speaking out.

According to Felicia Anthonio, Coordinator of African Freedom of Expression Exchange, "the campaign against the social media blackout is gaining momentum and so the government is trying to figure out who is speaking to rights groups outside the country. It is therefore not surprising that most organisations in Chad could not sign the petition which was sent to the African Union and United Nations... even though they supported it."

Despite a lack of local organisations signing the petition, the increasing international awareness of the issue is expected to have an impact in the coming weeks. As was the case in Cameroon in 2018 - where the #BringBackOurInternet hashtag helped force the government to halt their long-standing internet shutdown in the Anglophone region of the country - observers are hopeful that increased awareness will force Déby to repeal the restrictions.

Netblock's Cost of Internet Shutdowns Tool, estimates the economic impact of internet shutdowns across the world. In Chad, it estimates that a 365-day block of Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp would cost the local economy around $175million.

In a country with one of the lowest per capita gross national incomes in the world, the social media block is therefore not just an infringement on citizens freedom of speech and right to information, it also demonstrates a blatant disregard for their right to economic development.

With mounting pressure, there are hopes that Deby's regime will be forced to publicly recognise the blackout and, if challenges continue, may soon be forced to lift the ban. If he doesn't, there is a genuine risk that the economic, political and social landscape of Chad may deteriorate further.

Samuel Woodhams is a freelance technology journalist and Researcher at Top10VPN, a VPN comparison website. He writes about issues of censorship, digital rights and internet shutdowns. Follow him on Twitter @Samuel_Woodhams