'Your account has been disabled': The new wave of online attacks silencing Somali journalists continues

Beyond their immediate impact on individual journalists, the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) is concerned that these attacks now threaten media freedom and the public's access to independent information by disrupting journalists' ability to report on human rights violations, corruption, insecurity and other developments affecting communities across Somalia. At a time when the country is facing overlapping political and humanitarian crises, the silencing, harassment and removal of journalists from digital platforms risks shrinking the space for public reporting, accountability and scrutiny—precisely when independent journalism is most needed. On 17 September 2026, the Facebook page of Somali sports journalist Mohamed Abdi Muudey, which has more than 324,000 followers, simply disappeared overnight without any explanation. When he checked his email inbox, there were no messages from Meta or Facebook. However, when he checked the link to his account, he was confronted by a notification saying, "Your account has been disabled." Muudey told SJS that his account was first memorialized and then removed simultaneously. He began the appeal process and submitted his passport as evidence that he is alive and to confirm that he is the owner of the account. Screenshot shows a message telling Somali sports journalist Mohamed Abdi Muudey that his "account has been disabled." "I write about sports events and put videos of commentary mainly about sports events, both in Somalia and in the African context. I do not know how Meta came to the conclusion to remove my account," Mohamed, who lives in exile, told SJS and his Facebook account remained disabled as of 26 September, and no response had come from Meta, the company that owns Facebook. Similarly, Abdihafid Nor, a Mogadishu-based reporter whose Facebook page has more than 209,000 followers, went "unavailable" on the evening of 22 September without explanation. The page still displays the message: "The page is not available." Abdihafid was among a dozen Somali journalists who faced online attacks earlier late last month for their reporting on news and political developments in the country. "I was targeted last night. My Facebook page is no longer available," Abdihafid told SJS. Screenshot shows message saying "this content isn't available at the moment" for Somali journalist Abdihafid Nor's Facebook page. Abdihafid mainly covers Somalia's opposition and was kidnapped in May 2026 along with two other SJS colleagues, as we reported at the time. Since then, Abdihafid has gone into self-imposed hiding for his safety, he told SJS, but continued actively reporting on political and security developments in the country. On 22 September, Abdi Hafid published a news post reporting the arrest of two officers from the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Mogadishu over alleged clan-related revenge motives. Abdi Hafid told SJS that his sources informed him that a notorious NISA officer had shared the URL of his Facebook page in a WhatsApp group used by NISA agents in Mogadishu and indicated that "action should be taken against the page". Later that night, the journalist's Facebook page was removed. The NISA officer named was Mohamed Kafi Sheikh Abukar, who has previously been involved in attacks against journalists in Mogadishu and violence against women reporters. In 2024, media reported that he was suspended from his position at NISA sometime, but SJS understands that he was reinstated in mid-June 2025. Screenshots showing Whatsapp messages received by journalist Abdihafid Nor. Prior to this, Abdi Hafid received a message through his number mentioned on his Facebook page, which he shared with SJS. The message was sent by an unknown sender using a Bangladeshi WhatsApp number, claiming that an intellectual property claim would be filed against him through Instagram, a platform owned by Meta, and that his account would subsequently be disabled. Another affected journalist is pro-Jubaland journalist Fethi Ali Sharif, whose Facebook profile, with 125,000 followers, was removed and falsely memorialised on 25 September. Fethi told SJS that a day earlier, he had posted a mocking video President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's walk at the UN General Assembly with almost empty seats because with a voice of president Donald Trump saying "Somalia no government, no safety, no police, no nothing!" On Friday, his profile was memorialized even though he is alive with a message stating "We hope that people who love Fethi will find comfort in visiting his profile to remember and celebrate his life." Screenshots showing Facebook account of pro-Jubaland journalist Fethi Ali Sharif memorialized. On Thursday, 24 September, Meta also removed the Facebook page of Somali online TV outlet Hirasho TV following its report on anti-government protests in Beledweyne, central Somalia. The station also had covered extensively on the forced evictions targeting local families in Mogadishu often involving government officials and wealthy individuals as the perpetrators. The founder of Hirasho TV, Ahmed Abdullahi, told SJS that their page, which had more than half a million followers, disappeared without any notification. Screenshot shows Meta removed the Facebook page of Somali online TV outlet Hirasho TV. These online attacks are persistent and show no signs of stopping The attacks on journalists and media accounts have become increasingly frequent and persistent. During late August, SJS documented that eight media stations and seven journalists, including journalists in exile, had their accounts disabled or removed, or their content removed, following mass fake copyright claims targeting them. Most of the fake copyright claims were made using dubious names associated with Gmail accounts that had no public presence online. When SJS reached out to one of those accounts, a Somali-speaking person responded to us and even advised our investigators to contact him through a Belgian WhatsApp number. The person behind that number spoke fluent Somali and claimed to have worked with the Somali government. He offered his services for hire and told our team that he could "attack any journalist or media outlet for $5,000". Journalists we spoke to also identified another group using a Bangladeshi WhatsApp number that was allegedly involved in coordinated attacks targeting Himilo Media, Shabelle TV, SBC TV, Horn Diplomat and Sahal Cable TV. The group had reportedly demanded payments from the media outlets. When SJS reached out to Meta, the company that owns Facebook, they did not provide a response. These developments come amid a new communications partnership involving Somalia's Federal Government Ministry of Information and Turkish and Chinese entities. Earlier in September, Somali authorities announced that they had suspended more than 82,000 pages in 2026 alone over what the Minister of Information described as "terrorism," although no explanation was provided about the individual accounts or pages affected. Earlier, a senior officer at Somalia's Ministry of Information, Abdishakur Ali Ahmed, told SJS that he was appointed Director of the Social Media Department at the Federal Government's Ministry of Information in December 2021. Abdishakur confirmed to SJS that, "Following the development of the National Communication Strategy 2023–2024 in January, it was transformed into the Department of Communication Strategy, with a broader media and communication mandate." The department's mandate included "engagement with Meta", Facebook's parent company, Abdishakur said. In an email statement, Abdishakur told SJS that his department's "mandate included managing the Ministry's and state media's social-media accounts, assisting government institutions, journalists and media outlets with platform-related matters, and maintaining official engagement with international social-media companies." "The Ministry's engagement with Meta has contributed to a more conducive digital environment for journalists, influencers and media outlets. Most cases involving mistakenly restricted accounts or legitimate content were resolved after we accurately worked together with Meta," Abdishakur added in his written statement. However, Abdishakur declined to provide communications or describe the extent of his department's engagement with Meta concerning journalists' accounts, even though he denied requesting the censorship or removal of media content. The Minister of Information, Abdifatah Kasim, who recently boasted that his government had targeted "terror-related" accounts, did not comment on whether journalists' accounts were closed at the government's request. On its transparency website, Meta says it responds to government requests for data "in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service." However, Meta did not reveal the amount of requests it received from Somalia after December 2022, when it reported only two cases. As of December 2025, Meta's transparency page showed no cases of requests received from Somalia, even though Somali government officials claimed that they worked with Meta on issues involving account closures and content removal. Attacks continue despite Oversight Board recommendations The developments come even as the Meta Oversight Board made a set of recommendations in January 2026 following its review of journalists' accounts closure in Somaliland. The Board, for instance, recommended: "To help ensure that pages are not erroneously unpublished, Meta should update its General Secondary Review (GSR) ranking algorithm to explicitly prioritize page unpublication decisions for in-house review." The Oversight Board also told Meta: "To protect journalism in regions where media freedom is repressed, Meta should develop new criteria and systems to proactively enroll pages or accounts engaged in journalism in these regions to Sensitive Entity Secondary Review (SSR)." The Board's recommendations also included: "To ensure access to effective remedy, Meta should revise its appeal processes to prohibit the same human reviewers from assessing appeals against their own decisions, including on page unpublication. This should be done in a way that does not result in an increase in appeal review jobs being auto-closed." "We are extremely concerned by the ongoing coordinated wave of online attacks targeting Somali journalists and independent media platforms, including account suspensions, removals and the malicious memorialization of journalists who are alive and without due process by Meta," said SJS Secretary General, Abdalle Mumin "We call Meta to immediately investigate these attacks, ensure that all journalists' accounts are returned and their content reinstated without delay. We also ask Meta policy teams to review their policies towards Community Standards and ensure that they are not used to target and silence journalists' reporting or their accounts removed." READ THE FULL STORY HERE