Recent Benin net shutdown costs the country $1.54 million a day

Benin held parliamentary elections Sunday leaving citizens without access to opposition candidates and the internet. Social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as Spacetel—Benin’s leading internet provider—was shut down according to NetBlocks (a digital monitoring organization), Quartz Africa reports. VPNs were also blocked. This makes Benin the latest African country alongside …

Benin joins Uganda and Zambia as the latest African nation taxing the internet

Benin has joined a fray and growing list of African states imposing spurious taxes on citizens for using the internet. The government passed a decree in late August taxing its citizens for accessing the internet and social-media apps. The directive, first proposed in July, institutes a fee (link in French) of 5 CFA francs ($0.008) per megabyte consumed …