The Effect of Social Media Bans on Political Parties: The Case of Uganda’s 2021 General Elections

This study examines how social media was used by political parties in the 2021 general elections in Uganda. It specifically focuses on how the social media ban, imposed a few days to the elections by the government, affected the participation of political parties in the elections process. Key parameters in the analysis of this study include; the use of social media by political parties in the 2021 general elections in Uganda, the extent that the social media ban affected the preparation process and participation of political parties in the 2021 general elections in Uganda and finally, the avenues used by the political parties to circumvent the social media ban during the elections period. The social exchange theory by Putnam and the collective and connective action analytical framework by Olson underpins this study as they explains to what extent collective political action can be used to mobilize for regime change and the usefulness of social networks as a uniting force in championing for common good. Primary data has been collected from key informants of the various political parties in Uganda through unstructured questionnaires and follow up interview sessions. The study exposes how the social media ban impacted the ability of the parties to monitor the election day activities and the effectiveness of the avenues used by the political parties to circumvent the social media ban. The social media ban made it difficult to reach the electorate during the elections period and political parties had to resort to alternative means of communication such as instructing their supporters to download VPN in anticipation of the social media ban, using mobilisers on the ground and traditional media such as Radio and TV. The social media ban negatively impacted the reach to the electorate by the political parties during the elections period, as the alternative channels of communication were not as effective. As a result, the democratic process was hampered and the credibility of the general elections questionable. This action should be condemned by the political parties and should not be tolerated by democracies.