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Uganda’s 15 January 2026 elections are taking place in a deliberately constructed information blackout that strikes at the core of the right to participate in public affairs. Two days before the vote, the Uganda Communications Commission ordered telecom operators to cut public internet access nationwide from 18:00, effectively shutting down data services, social media and most online news for millions of users. Authorities justified the measure with familiar language about combating “misinformation, disinformation and electoral fraud,” framing connectivity as a security threat rather than an enabler of transparent elections. UN and African human rights bodies underline that such blanket disruptions are inherently disproportionate and incompatible with obligations to protect freedom of expression, access to information and political participation.

Crackdown on media and international correspondents
The internet shutdown amplifies an already severe crackdown on both local and international media. Journalists have reported assaults, arbitrary arrests, confiscation and destruction of equipment, and bans on live coverage of protests and certain campaign events, particularly those linked to opposition candidate Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine). International outlets such as Al Jazeera, Reuters and the BBC still appear to have correspondents or stringers in or around Kampala, yet their ability to report is sharply constrained by loss of real-time connectivity, restrictive accreditation rules and security-force interference at key locations. A government directive prohibiting live broadcasts of “riots” and other “unlawful processions” further curtails the flow of independent images to global audiences, hollowing out the media’s watchdog role at a decisive political moment.

Targeting NGOs and human rights defenders
In parallel, Ugandan authorities have moved to neutralise the organisations best placed to document abuses around the polls. Days before the election, the National Bureau for NGOs ordered at least two prominent human rights groups, including Chapter Four Uganda and the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, to halt operations on vague security grounds that appear directly linked to their monitoring and advocacy work. UN human rights officials, including High Commissioner Volker Türk, describe an electoral environment marked by widespread repression and intimidation of opposition actors, civil society, journalists and perceived critics of the government. They call on the authorities to end violence and harassment, investigate abuses by security forces and lift undue restrictions on media and NGOs.

Implications for civic freedoms

Uganda’s 2026 elections illustrate how digital shutdowns, media repression and NGO closures interact to close civic space. Artists, independent cultural spaces and creative collectives who rely on online platforms for expression, organising and documentation find themselves disconnected at the very moment when political stakes are highest and risks of abuse are most acute. This episode is a stark reminder that defending freedom of expression today necessarily includes resisting network disruptions and other forms of digital authoritarianism that seek to erase evidence and silence critical voices before they can be heard.

Uganda’s 2026 elections are unfolding in an engineered information vacuum. A nationwide internet shutdown, violent pressure on journalists, and orders for leading rights groups to halt work have stripped the vote of meaningful scrutiny. For artists, cultural spaces, and human rights defenders, this is not only a political crisis but a cultural one: digital platforms used to speak, organise and document are going dark precisely when they are most needed.

Mimeta Memos examine how network disruptions, media repression and NGO closures combine to shrink civic and artistic space, and why resisting digital authoritarianism must be central to defending artistic freedom.

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