Written by Tezor Dedam
On September 11, 2026, Kauna, a student nurse in Gamji, Sokoto, noticed her TikTok app wouldn’t open. She uninstalled and reinstalled it, but it got worse because she could no longer log back in. She checked in with her friend, who also lives in the same area; the same thing happened – TikTok just seemed to be taking forever to load.
Kauna’s experience mirrors recent social media discussions on how TikTok is being restricted in some northern Nigerian states. Users in Kaduna, Kano, and Sokoto have struggled to use TikTok, with varying accounts of when it was first noticed, causing many to download Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access the app. Initial Reports described feeds freezing mid-scroll, videos failing to load, and uploads stalling on regular mobile data. But in these cases, access is being restored almost immediately once people switch on VPNs.
So what exactly is happening with TikTok in these northern states? Here’s what we know so far.
There has been no official statement
As of September 23, 2026, there has been no official statement from Nigerian regulators, telecom operators, the National Communications Commission (NCC), the federal government, or state governments in these states. acknowledging any restriction. So there is no official lead as to whether it is a technical fault, a network configuration issue, a traffic-management measure or a deliberate block.
Raised eyebrows about government censorship
Given that the shutdown is not nationwide, and TikTok is not experiencing a general outage, much of the speculation on social media has been centred on government interference in these states.
Kauna, for example, stated that most people in Sokoto, across all classes, had used TikTok fervently as a source of information, news, and entertainment. She said that the nature of free and decentralised information within the app was likely targeted for censorship, particularly citing the case of allegations surrounding Senator Shehu Buba Umar of Bauchi South and his links with armed terrorist groups.
So what this means for Kauna and millions of Nigerians in these states is that access to such a key part of the social media experience is abruptly disrupted. In Kano alone, for example, there is a fast-growing community of TikTok creators who are shaping a niche industry, and these kinds of users and communities are being denied a basic right to information and entertainment.
But even further, the speculation seems to still be brewing, especially with the 2027 elections approaching. No statements, announcements, or grounds for anything to be challenged. So maybe it’s a glitch, maybe it’s some sort of weird regional routing issue, or maybe it is, indeed, censorship. Whatever the reason is, the silence is speaking volumes.
