How Tanzanians engage with Samia’s X posts amid the ban has become the digital whisper of the day, as everyday citizens from bustling markets to quiet coastal villages puzzle over President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s vibrant updates on the platform while their own screens hit a wall of government-imposed silence.
The irony stings sharper than a monsoon downpour: Since May 2025, when authorities slammed the shutters on X (formerly Twitter), citing cyberattacks and illicit content, the president’s @SuluhuSamia handle keeps humming with policy teases and national pride posts, racking up thousands of likes from global followers – but leaving her 12 million Tanzanian subjects scrambling for workarounds just to hit “reply” or “retweet”.
It started with a simple thread last week: Samia sharing snaps from a youth empowerment forum in Arusha, captioning it “Building tomorrow’s leaders today #TanzaniaRising.”
“I want to thank her for spotlighting our girls’ education push – it’s personal; my daughter’s in that programme. But poof, X vanishes like mist at dawn,” netizens vented over chai at a Kariakoo stall, her phone clutched like a contraband relic.
She’s not alone; forums like JamiiForums buzz with the same gripe, threads titled “Samia’s Tweets: For Us or the World?” pulling in 2,000 comments since the block’s latest clampdown.
Enter the underground army of VPNs – virtual private networks that cloak users in foreign IP addresses, tunnelling past the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority’s (TCRA) firewalls.
Apps like ExpressVPN and NordVPN top the underground charts, with local tech whizzes in tech hubs like Bagamoyo tweaking free proxies for the less tech-savvy.
“It’s like smuggling spices past the sultan – risky, but the flavour’s worth it,” quipped tech blogger Hassan Mfinanga in an encrypted WhatsApp group chat that’s ballooned to 5,000 members.
Data from OONI Probe, the global internet watchdog, shows spikes in VPN traffic post-ban, with 30% of urban youth admitting to daily hops to catch Samia’s dispatches.
Samia’s X spree isn’t slowing – her latest on October 18 touted mangrove conservation wins in Zanzibar, a nod to climate warriors amid COP30 buzz. “She’s bridging borders we can’t cross,” mused activist Zainab Mwinyi, who beams screenshots to community radios for on-air reads.
A petition on Change.org, “Unban X for All Tanzanians”, has 15,000 signatures, pleading for parity in the president’s digital dialogue. This ban-born bind spotlights Tanzania’s tightrope: Samia’s reformist glow – easing media muzzles since 2021 – clashes with cyber controls that echo Magufuli’s ghost.
As elections loom in 2027, will VPN veils veil voter voices or spark a thaw? For now, Tanzanians engage with Samia’s X posts amid the ban through sheer ingenuity, one encrypted emoji at a time.