Tanzania’s communications regulator has issued a two-week
deadline for bloggers to register their platforms under strict new
online content rules, amid concerns that the government is cracking down
on internet users.
The regulations passed in March
make it mandatory for bloggers and owners of other online forums such as
Youtube TV channels to register with the government and pay up to $900
for a licence.
Digital activists said the move was the
latest salvo in a crackdown on dissent and free speech by the government
of President John Magufuli, who was elected in 2015 and has pledged to
speed up economic growth and development.
All online
content providers are required to complete the application process
before 5 May 2018,” the state-run Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority (TCRA) said in a statement posted on its website. The
registration process was opened on Saturday.
Applicants
are required to provide details of shareholders, share capital,
citizenship of owners, staff qualification and training programmes, and a
tax clearance certificate.
Fine
Bloggers convicted of failure to comply with the new rules could
be subject to a fine of at least 5 million shillings ($2,200) or a
prison sentence of a minimum 12 months, or both.
Most
bloggers in Tanzania are individuals, without registered companies,
making it difficult for them to meet the registration requirements,
activists say.
Magufuli on Friday ordered authorities
to take legal action against anyone deemed to be “abusing” freedom of
expression by posting misleading anti-government statements on social
media.
Last week, police briefly detained two
musicians, including one of the country’s most popular singers, after
they posted video clips that authorities deemed obscene.
Critics have accused Magufuli’s government of infringing free speech and democracy with the new regulations.
The
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said on April 12 that the new
online content rules “will kill off Tanzania’s blogosphere”.
The
number of internet users in Tanzania rose 16 per cent in 2017 to 23
million, around 44 per cent of the population, with most using their
smartphones to go online.
Earlier this month, Uganda announced plans to slap a new tax on social media users.
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