Gabon’s online news outlet Info241 suspended for publishing allegations about president

Dakar, August 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Gabonese authorities to reinstate the privately owned news site Info241, which was suspended by the country’s media regulator for relaying comments by an influencer about President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and his entourage.

“Deciding to shut down a 13-year-old media outlet is more an act of censorship than of regulation and deprives the Gabonese public of a major source of information,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Gabonese authorities must lift the indefinite suspension of Info241 and allow the outlet to resume work.”

On August 10, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), ordered Info241 be suspended until further notice over its August 9 article about a YouTube video by a Europe-based activist who publishes under the name Lanlaire and made allegations about the misuse of public funds and the sexual orientation of Gabon’s president.

“The media Info241, pretending to recognize the unfounded nature of the activist’s malicious and unproven insinuations, has chosen to publish them in defiance of the legislative and regulatory provisions in force,” the HAC said in a statement. The regulator also cited an ordinance on the regulation of digital social networks that anyone who has participated in disseminating or sharing illegal content is also liable for damage caused. 

Info241’s publishing director Cédrin Mounziégou said in a statement that “informing the public about accusations circulating in the public space does not mean taking them up or accepting them as fact.”

Mounziégou said the HAC did not appear to have followed legal procedures as Info241 did not receive notice or get a chance to defend itself and described the decision as illegal as the law does not provide for indefinite suspension.

According to Article 183 of the communication code, the regulator can suspend a media outlet for up to 30 days for a first offense, up to 12 months for a repeat offense, and permanently ban it for multiple repeated offenses.

Mounziégou told CPJ that Info241 had not been sanctioned in its 13-year history.

Separately, in February, CPJ joined the #KeepItOn coalition in asking Gabonese authorities to reverse the HAC’s ongoing shutdown of social media, which the regulator has said aims to prevent the “spread of false information.”

CPJ’s letter asking for comment, as requested by HAC spokesperson Jean-Claude Franck Mendome, did not immediately receive a response.