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Richard Irvine-Brown
BBC Verify journalist

The internet has partially returned to Tanzania after being shut down since the disputed re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in protests and violence in the wake of the contested vote, which is when internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks has said network connectivity was first turned off by the Tanzanian government.

Netblocks confirmed yesterday connectivity had been restored, but added that significant restrictions still apply to social media and messaging platforms.

Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks, told BBC Verify these restrictions “limit access to information at a critical time”. “The internet is a basic digital right and essential for transparency and public participation during elections,” she added.

Because shutdown has prevented Tanzanians from sharing what’s happening, another consequence of it has been old images from other countries wrongly being posted on social media as if from recent unrest.

One video claimed to be soldiers blocking a street in Tanzania, but matched footage shared by Madagascan social media accounts during protests there in October.

Another showing hundreds of protesters in the streets is at least six years old and from Port au Prince in Haiti. This is clear because a sign for the Office Nationale d’Assurance-Vieillesse, a Haitian government department, is visible in the background.