ABSTRACT
The Internet has spawned numerous opportunities for citizens of the African continent, enabling access to information that counters state propaganda, thereby asserting their digital citizenship. However, various governments in Africa have resorted to Internet shutdowns of different guises to counter online free expression. Very little scholarship has been devoted to examining triggers of Internet shutdowns in Africa and the rationale provided by states to justify them. Consequently, there is a lacuna with regard to why African states, most of whom are signatories to key protocols on freedom of expression and human rights, institute Internet shutdowns and the reasons they proffer for implementing them. Deploying Digital Rights as a conceptual lens, and based on literature survey and key informants, this chapter illuminates the various triggers of Internet shutdowns and how they are discursively rationalized by these governments. The chapter broadens understanding of the contest between state security and citizens’ digital rights. Tentative observations made in this chapter are that Internet shutdowns are mainly instituted by African governments for political preservation and rationalized as a necessity to protect national security, state security and preservation of the social and moral fabric – which is reflective of the neo-patrimonial instincts of the state.
