Strict new internet laws in Tanzania are driving bloggers and content creators offline

Strict new internet laws in Tanzania are driving bloggers and content creators offline

6 years ago
Anonymous $cyhBy-qkd5

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/6/17536686/tanzania-internet-laws-censorship-uganda-social-media-tax

In May, Tanzanian bloggers lost an appeal that had temporarily suspended a new set of regulations granting the country’s Communication Regulatory Authority discretionary powers to censor online content. Officially dubbed the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations, 2018, the statute, which the Tanzanian government is counting among its efforts to curb hate speech and fake news, requires online content creators — traditional media websites, online TV and radio channels, but also individual bloggers and podcasters — to pay roughly two million Tanzanian shillings (930 US dollars) in registration and licensing fees. They must store contributors’ details for 12 months and have means to identify their sources and disclose financial sponsors. Cyber cafes must install surveillance cameras, and all owners of electronic mobile devices, including phones, have to protect them with a password. Failure to comply with the regulations — which also forbid online content that is “indecent,” “annoying,” or that “leads to public disorder” — will result in a five million Tanzanian shillings (2,202 US dollars) fine, a jail term of not less than a year or both.

These new regulations are already forcing young content creators—and often poorer ones—offline. For a country like Tanzania, whose GDP per capita is 879 US dollars—and where approximately 70 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day—the financial burden of these new laws threatens to widen the internet-access gap.

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