Gabon's media regulator said Saturday that access to social media had been restored after an eight-month suspension, according to BBC and Africanews^1,2.

The High Communication Authority announced the change in a televised statement, BBC reported, adding that it had approached the regulator for comment¹.

The ban began on 17 February, with HAC saying content posted online was fuelling conflict and deepening divisions^1,2.

Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram were among the services affected; Africanews said WhatsApp worked only intermittently^1,2.

Many people used virtual private networks to keep using the platforms, BBC reported¹. Africanews said Proton reported a 60,000 percent increase in downloads of its VPN tool the day after the ban².

The restriction came as President Brice Oligui Nguema faced unrest less than a year after his election, including strikes by teachers and civil servants over pay and working conditions, BBC said^1,2.

The opposition called the suspension an abuse of power^1,2. Africanews said legal challenges to the ban were all rejected².

Africanews said HAC described the pause as time for the government to adapt its legal framework and that users are now required to provide formal identification². The authority said it was working with Meta, TikTok and YouTube on content moderation, according to that report².

Nguema won last year's election with more than 90 percent of the vote, two years after a coup ended more than five decades of Bongo-family rule, BBC reported¹. Africanews noted activists have pointed to the ban and the April imprisonment of former prime minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, who had criticized the measure, as signs of a tighter climate².