Intense attack on the social media accounts of Sudan activists

Engineer Munzer Abulaali, a leading figure in Forces for Freedom and Change, confirmed the existence of an organised and systematic campaign against the social media pages of influential activists by unknown parties.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, he explained that there were no new posts on their timelines and that activists have problems accessing their pages. He also explaining that Facebook is an important platform of the Sudanese revolutionary movement to promote demonstrations and coordinate activities among its members.

Abulaali pointed to a certain organised body within the regime as being involved in the attack. He also explained that there are rumours about the security services and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) possessing modern programmes that could trace activists and monitor or interfere with their activities through their social media pages. 

He said that a group of specialised communication engineers is in the process of investigating who is behind the attack. 
Abulaali called on the owners of the Facebook pages to increase security so as not to be hacked and called on the followers of activists to support the affected pages by sharing and liking their posts.

Journalist Hossameldin Haidar, former Secretary-General of the Press Council, said that, before the coup, the Ministry of Culture and Information had revealed the existence of pages and websites that try to direct public opinion in Sudan and penetrate social media from various directions. This was shown through the ministry’s contracts with specialised companies.

He said that the accounts of the activists, resistance committees, political organisations, and unions that reject the coup suffer from intense attacks and pointed to a large number of accounts with East Asian or Russian backgrounds that use the laughter icon and ridicule the content of their social media pages. 

Haidar also explained that posts and images on the activists’ accounts are often reported by trolls in an attempt to classify them as ‘fraudulent content’.

This social media repression is yet another form of repression that activists in Sudan face since a military coup took place on October 25.