An Oct. 17, 2026 post by Eyerusalem Tesemma (@Queen_of_Amhara) on X
TikTok banned Mereja TV's account and then restored it on appeal, while a Zegabi Media TV anchor's account remains down and YouTube has suspended Wamera Media's channel, Mereja TV said.
Mereja TV, a U.S.-based Ethiopian multimedia organization, said TikTok banned its account and then restored it after an appeal. The personal TikTok account of Eyerusalem Tesemma, a news anchor at Zegabi Media TV, remains down, and the YouTube channel of Wamera Media is suspended, according to Mereja TV.
Mereja, Mereja TV, Zegabi Media and Ethiopian Review share an owner.
Eyerusalem Tesemma wrote on X on Oct. 17 that TikTok had banned "400+ Amhara creators in a single day including my account with 210K followers, just for mentioning Fano or using Fano music." In the post, which tagged @TikTokSupport, she wrote that Fano "is an Amhara historical & cultural identity, not a banned group or a political label" and urged the company to "stop silencing Amhara voices." Mereja could not independently confirm the number of accounts she said were removed.
Mereja asked TikTok and YouTube to confirm or deny the actions. Pereruan Kenana, TikTok's communications lead for Kenya and the East African Community, replied that the team was investigating the accounts "to check what the issue might be" and expected to give feedback by the end of the week. YouTube's owner, Google, sent only an automatic acknowledgment. Mereja will update this story with any response.
Mereja TV said the platforms accused the outlets of supporting "dangerous organizations" without naming which organization, and gave no advance warning.
TikTok, YouTube and Facebook hold a social media monopoly and have a responsibility to promote a free press, especially for legitimate news organizations, Mereja TV said in a statement. "But when it comes to the immigrant community in the United States, they conduct wholesale termination of accounts at the behest of foreign governments," Mereja TV added.
Ethiopian Review, in an Oct. 8 article by its editor, Kaleb Yekuno Amlak, called on Facebook and YouTube to review their removals of Ethiopian news accounts, explain their decisions and restore material they cannot show violated their rules. The article, "What Facebook and YouTube Owe Ethiopia," also urged the companies to disclose how they handle government requests in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian authorities blocked Facebook, TikTok, Telegram and YouTube nationwide for more than five months in 2023. In July, the Ethiopian Media Authority said it would seek to amend the media law to require all digital outlets, including those on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, to register. Haimanot Zeleke, the authority's director general, said, "All media will come into the registration system."
Sources
- Ethiopian Review, "What Facebook and YouTube Owe Ethiopia," Kaleb Yekuno Amlak, Oct. 8, 2026
- Eyerusalem Tesemma (@Queen_of_Amhara) on X, Oct. 17, 2026
- VOA, "Ethiopia's Social Media Ban Brings Challenges," June 28, 2023
- Birr Metrics, "EMA Moves to Compel Registration For All Digital Media Platforms," July 13, 2026
- Mereja TV statement, Oct. 19, 2026