Why are they targeted by Tanzanian authorities

At least three social media activists are facing scrutiny and pressure from Tanzania amid fears of more protests in the coming week.

This comes after the contested polls that saw incumbent Samia Suluhu win with a landslide margin.

Since then there have been protests which left dozens dead and injured. The matter is under probe by local authorities amid calls for other international bodies to get involved.

In the meantime, Tanzania is now turning their focus on three main individuals it said are leading in what they termed as incitement to violence.

Authorities said across social media, a growing wave of political agitation in Tanzania is being pushed by influencers who are not even in the country, and worse, many of them live in comfort and luxury abroad, far removed from the consequences their messages create for ordinary Tanzanians.

For instance, Tanzania threatened to block Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in the country if Meta refused to block accounts of three activists.

Meta removed two of them and restricted the third.

Among those targeted include  Mange Kimambi, a U.S- based activist who built a massive online following and has used it to call for protests in Tanzania.

Maria Sarungi  is also a well-established media professional now living outside Tanzania.

Officials say she continues to direct conversation and political pressure online. With her international networks, stable life, and freedom of movement, she is insulated from the unrest she encourages on the ground.

Hilda Newton, another online activist is on target.

Known for her outspoken political posts, Hilda Newton has been pushing for mobilization often comes from a position of comfort, with no direct exposure to the risks Tanzanians face.

Sativa, a male activist discussed widely on social platforms, is another figure believed to be outside Tanzania.

Though details about his location remain unclear, his bold calls for resistance are made from a place of safety and distance, not from the streets where Tanzanians would feel the impact.

They all deny any wrongdoing.

Kimambi has protested after Meta, formerly Facebook, deactivated her Instagram account.

Mange, who has lived in the US since 2012 and a vocal critic of the Tanzanian government, accused Suluhu’s administration of instigating the removal of her accounts that she has been using to mobilise Tanzanians against the government ahead of the Dec 9 protests.

She on Thursday wrote an urgent letter to United States President Donald Trump, accusing Meta of unjustly shutting down her social-media accounts.

She argued that the deactivations have silenced one of the few remaining channels documenting alleged human-rights abuses in her home country.

In the letter, which she shared on X, Kimambi said Meta removed her Instagram accounts, including her personal page and a popular nev platform, as well as her WhatsApp account.

This, she said, came shortly after she used them to highlight alleged state-linked kidnappings, killings, corruption and the suppression of opposition politics ahead of Tanzania’s 2025 general election.

The former fashion model-turned-activist, who is based in the US, is an outspoken critic of Suluhu and had nearly three million followers on Instagram.

She has been accused of inciting the recent deadly election protests, sparking calls for her arrest.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that her Instagram accounts had been “removed for violating our recidivism policy”.

Tanzania government spokesman Gerson Msigwa told the BBC that she should “provide proof of her claims”.

“We don’t allow people to create new accounts that are similar to those we’ve previously removed for violating our Community Standards,” said Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Meta also confirmed that it blocked Maria Sarungi-Tsehai’s Instagram account in Tanzania after a legal order from the government.

Maria in a statement on X claimed Meta did not notify her of the action taken.

“I need @meta @instagram to explain why they did not notify me at all and for transparency what “legal order” does a mere Regulatory Authority in Tanzania have over a US based company!” she said.

Kimambi has, however, been accused by Tanzanian authorities of inciting the October 29 election violence that left hundreds of protesters dead, sparking calls for her arrest.

Tanzanian Attorney General, Hamza Said Johari, last month publicly demanded the arrest of Kimambi and subsequent extradition.

The activist, popularly known as ‘Sister of the nation’ (Dada wa Taifa) by her

peers, built her influence primarily through her social media platforms and began her campaign against the Tanzanian government during the presidency of the late John Magufuli in 2016.