Tanzania to regulate social media

 Govt to sanction violators of law

Social media users are in for hard times in Tanzania as users who break the new law set by the government will be blocked by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

The government drafted regulations for online content producers and users on social media. The TCRA published the draft Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations, 2017, and the bill will come into force as soon as it is signed by the information minister.

The new bill contains strict regulations for online content producers including social media users and bloggers. According to the law, offenders will be charged a fine of 5 million Tanzanian Shillings ($2,300), a minimum of 12 months in jail or both. The users will be held liable for posting content deemed “indecent, obscene, hate speech, extreme violence or material that will offend or incite others, cause annoyance, threaten, or encourage or incite crime, or lead to public disorder.

Those who publish information that broadly portrays “hate propaganda, threatens national security or sparks a health crisis, racial tension or violence, touching on possible terror attacks” will face punishment… as stated by the regulation.

The regulation also stated that individual social media users will also be held responsible for the content they share while online service providers “will be required to install user manuals and record proceedings of their business around the clock by installing CCTV cameras in and out of the premises.”

For online radio, TV and other digital platforms including bloggers and website managers, “they will need to apply for registration from TCRA once the regulations officially come into force,” according to the regulation.

They are also required to ban anonymous users from their platforms and “fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies as required,” the regulations said.

TCRA Director General, James Kilaba said the regulations would check immoral use of online and social media content, as well as content that can endanger national security

Tony Nwakaegho with Agency report