Polls closed in Tanzania's general elections on Wednesday, amid complaints of restricted internet access, resulting in increased downloads of a VPN software. There were numerous reports on outages of WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, and other internet services, indicating local crackdown on the freedom of speech online. In a swift surge of interest, Surfshark VPN saw a 597% increase in daily traffic to its website from Tanzania.

"We’re witnessing a spike of VPN downloads in Tanzania after local authorities disrupted the internet accessibility nationwide on Tuesday. Surfshark registered a 597% increase in traffic to its website from Tanzania compared to the last three days," says Gabrielle Racai, Communications manager at Surfshark. "Many Tanzanians complained they were experiencing problems accessing social media platforms or trying to purchase VPN software."

The internet blockage started amid the 2020 Tanzanian general election campaign. As reported by Netblocks.org, the government is blocking access to social media sites e Gmail, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Google Translate on Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Halotel, and Zantel.