On Sunday, the Somali government enacted a ban on TikTok, Telegram, and an online bookmaker, alleging that these services were being used by “terrorists” to disseminate information.

The choice was made before to the military offensive’s second phase against the extremist Islamist Shebab, who have been fighting a deadly uprising against the Mogadishu government for more than 15 years.

The Ministry of Communication and Technology stated in a statement that it had instructed internet service providers to sever access to the three platforms by August 24 or else legal action, of an unspecified kind, would be taken.

The government claims that “terrorists” and “groups spreading immorality” utilize TikTok, Telegram, and the 1XBET website to “disseminate violent images.”

They will “speed up the war (…) against the terrorists who have spilled the blood of the people of Somalia,” the ministry claims, if they are banned.

Along with local clan militias, African Union troops, and American airstrikes, the Somali army has been waging an attack against the Shebab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated organisation, since August 2022.

Shebab militants were expelled from Mogadishu in 2011, but they are still firmly established in broad rural areas, from which they continue to assault civilian and security targets.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, the president of Somalia, has vowed to purge the nation of Islamist militias and is expected to soon declare the second stage of the military offensive against the Shebab in the south of the nation.