Boma Achenimie 
On Sunday, Jama Hassan Khalif, Somalia’s Minister of Communications, announced a total ban on the popular video app, TikTok.
According to the minister, aside from Tiktok, Telegram and the betting website 1XBet were also subject to the ban.
Khalif claimed that the aforementioned apps helped terrorists distribute “horrific” messages to the general public and contained obscene information.
The statement reads, “The minister of communications orders internet companies to stop the aforementioned applications, which terrorists and immoral groups use to continuously spread horrific images and false information to the public.”
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The action was taken just days after the nation’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, declared that plans were being made to begin a military operation against the terrorist organisation al Shabaab and destroy it within the following five months.
Due to worries over data privacy in recent months, a number of Western nations have imposed limits on the usage of TikTok. Bytedance, a Chinese corporation, is accused of exchanging user data with the Chinese government through their app.
The usage of software on smartphones provided by the government is prohibited by a number of American governmental agencies. However, both residents and employees of the government are now completely prohibited in Montana.
Similar restrictions to limit the app on smartphones controlled by the government have also been put in place by New Zealand, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and many more countries.
