Togo: Instant messaging apps blocked amid 2020 presidential election

Last Saturday, on 22nd February 2020, presidential elections were held in Togo. These elections follow a wave of protests over the last years against the 53-year rule of Gnassingbe Eyadema and, subsequently, his son, Faure Gnassingbe. A few days before the election, non-partisan election monitoring was restricted as National Democratic Institute (NDI) staff were expelled from the country. According to preliminary results from the electoral commission, incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election.

Amid concerns that the Togolese government would restrict access to the internet during the elections (similarly to other West African countries, such as Benin and The Gambia), Access Now’s KeepItOn campaign published an open letter encouraging the government of Togo to ensure a free and open internet during the election. Access Now also encouraged the use of OONI Probe so that locals in Togo could monitor the accessibility of online sites and services through network measurement.

On election day, OONI Probe users in Togo tweeted that access to WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger was blocked. In this post, we share OONI measurements collected from Togo and discuss the blocking of instant messaging apps amid the country’s 2020 elections.

Blocking of instant messaging apps

Starting on election day (22nd February 2020), OONI measurements collected by OONI Probe users in Togo suggest that WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram were blocked on two networks: Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229). All three apps, however, were accessible on the Canalbox (AS36924) network, showing that blocking differed across ISPs in Togo.

The following chart illustrates the results from the testing of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram across three ISPs in Togo between 21st to 23rd February 2020.

Chart: Blocking of Instant Messaging Apps in Togo

Source: OONI measurements collected from Togo (extract of data used to produce the above chart is available here)

Measurements in the above chart are annotated as “likely blocked” (rather than “confirmed blocked”) due to their relatively limited volume. Yet, the fact that OONI measurements show that these instant messaging apps were accessible in Togo before and after the elections (from 24th February 2020) suggests that they were most likely blocked on election day indeed.

WhatsApp

OONI’s WhatsApp test is designed to measure the blocking of WhatsApp’s mobile app and web version (web.whatsapp.com) by attempting to perform an HTTP GET request, TCP connection, and DNS lookup to WhatsApp’s endpoints, registration service, and web version from the vantage point of the user.

On 22nd February 2020, OONI’s WhatsApp test was run in Togo and measurements showed that while WhatsApp’s registration service and web.whatsapp.com were accessible, access to WhatsApp’s endpoints were blocked on the Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229) networks.

The following image (taken from an OONI WhatsApp measurement) shows that attempts to establish TCP connections to WhatsApp endpoints failed.

Blocking of WhatsApp in Togo

Source: OONI measurement collected from Togo, 22nd February 2020

This is observed on both the Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229) networks on 22nd February 2020, suggesting that access to the WhatsApp mobile app was blocked by means of IP-based blocking.

It’s worth highlighting that the IP addresses used by WhatsApp that appeared to be blocked in Togo (the 34.192.0.0/10 netblock) are part of the Amazon AWS Cloud, which means that the block could have potentially led to interference of other services reliant on the Amazon Cloud.

AWS IPs

But even if some collateral damage did occur, it was probably short-lived, as recent OONI measurements show that access to WhatsApp has been unblocked on both Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229).

On election day, WhatsApp was not blocked on all networks in Togo. OONI measurements show that the WhatsApp mobile app, registration service, and web version were accessible on the Canalbox (AS36924) network in Togo on 22nd February 2020, as illustrated below.

WhatsApp accessible in Togo

Source: OONI measurement collected from Togo, 22nd February 2020

Telegram

OONI’s Telegram test is designed to measure the blocking of Telegram’s app and web version (web.telegram.org) by attempting to perform an HTTP POST request and TCP connection to Telegram’s access points, as well as an HTTP GET request to web.telegram.org from the vantage point of the user.

This test was run in Togo on 22nd February 2020. Measurements collected from both Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229) show that the HTTPS version of Telegram Web (web.telegram.org) appears to have been blocked, as illustrated below.

Blocking of Telegram in Togo

Source: OONI measurements collected from Togo, 22nd February 2020

It’s worth noting though that TCP connections to Telegram endpoints were successful on both networks, suggesting that the Telegram mobile app worked in Togo on election day.

Telegram accessible in Togo

Source: OONI measurement collected from Togo, 22nd February 2020

Access to Telegram Web has since been unblocked on both Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229) networks, as revealed by recent OONI measurements.

Facebook Messenger

OONI’s Facebook Messenger test is designed to measure the blocking of Facebook Messenger by attempting to perform a TCP connection and DNS lookup to Facebook’s endpoints from the vantage point of the user.

When this test was run in Togo on 22nd February 2020, the collected measurements presented signals of potential Facebook Messenger blocking on both Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229).

Testing Facebook Messenger in Togo

Source: OONI measurement collected from Togo, 22nd February 2020

However, given that most attempts to establish TCP connections to Facebook endpoints were successful, it remains unclear if these anomalies were caused by transient network failures or by intentional blocking of the Facebook Messenger app.

It’s worth noting though that following the elections, recent OONI measurements don’t show any signs of Facebook Messenger blocking on Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229).

Conclusion

OONI measurements collected from Togo on 22nd February 2020 suggest the blocking of the WhatsApp mobile app and Telegram Web, as well as the potential blocking of Facebook Messenger. All three instant messaging platforms appear to have been blocked on the Togo Telecom (AS24691) and Atlantique Telecom (AS37229) networks, but were accessible on the Canalbox (AS36924) network. This suggests that internet censorship varies across networks in Togo.

As the blocking of WhatsApp endpoints involved IP addresses that are part of the Amazon AWS Cloud, the block might have potentially led to interference of other services reliant on the Amazon Cloud. However, the block was lifted by 24th February 2020, suggesting that any potential collateral damage was probably short-lived. Similarly, OONI measurements show that Telegram Web and Facebook Messenger are accessible across networks in Togo from 24th February 2020 onwards.

As the network anomalies observed for WhatsApp, Telegram Web, and Facebook Messenger in Togo are mostly limited to 22nd February 2020, the platforms may have been blocked in correlation to the country’s presidential election on that day.

Longitudinal data is essential to enable the examination of censorship events over time. To more accurately observe censorship changes and spikes in correlation to political events (such as Togo’s recent elections), it is necessary to collect relevant measurements on an ongoing basis over time.

You can contribute measurements from Togo or anywhere else around the world by running OONI Probe, which is free and open source software designed to measure various forms of internet censorship, such as the blocking of websites and instant messaging apps. Network measurement data collected by OONI Probe users around the world is openly published in near real-time, which you can use as part of your research and advocacy.

We thank all OONI Probe users in Togo for contributing measurements and making this study possible.