SECTOR 1 b. c. take temporary possession of any communication station within Uganda, and any apparatus which may be installed and used in the station, for a specified period not exceeding six months; in writing direct a licensed person, to intercept or detain a postal article, class, or description of postal articles, in the course of transmission within Uganda and deliver it to an officer specified in the order. However, during the 48-hour social media blackout and the blockage of certain websites during Uganda’s election, these requirements were not met, and could be challenged in a court of law. “The State is reported to have paid each operator 400 million shillings to shut down social media and mobile money platforms.” It is understood that the Legal Brains Trust plans to take government to court for its actions in this regard. “It was a political decision to shut down the space where people express themselves, but they pulled the security card in this case. There has been a move to use the security or public safety guys to encroach on people’s rights.” During the media blackout, however, people were able to find alternative means to access social media and the Internet using VPN, “so that restriction didn’t have too much of an impact.” Providing some context on the national security concern outside of elections, a panellist stated, “There is hate speech, radicalisation and recruitment taking place online. However, there may also be overuse by security operatives. There is a risk that what’s happening online or on radio presents risks to national security.” Another noted: “The police has a media crimes unit, which has been expanded to include a social media observatory unit. They hire young people who are tech savvy, and pay them to monitor trends; what conversations are taking place, and what people are talking about on social media.” An example of an arrest of a person in connection with an, ‘online rumour forum providing unfiltered information about people, was cited. The forum was providing the residential addresses of prominent people in government, and “the way it was posted was that ‘if you have a problem with so and so, this is their address’. That’s why sometimes government needs to come in and restrict.” 26 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2016