By News Writer |
Uganda’s controversial Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill 2022, which rights groups say will likely be used to silence dissenting voices online, has come into force after the country’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni signed it into law yesterday.
The country’s legislators had passed amendments to the 2011 Computer Misuse Act in early September, limiting writing or sharing of content on…
News Update |
Authorities lift the months-long suspension on social media giant’s operations after it agrees to meet conditions.
Lagos, Nigeria – Solomon Elusoji, a Lagos-based journalist, felt a rush of relief early on Thursday after being able to access Twitter for the first time in seven months.
“It feels like freedom,” Elusoji told Al Jazeera. “As a journalist, I use Twitter a lot to…
By Pernille Baerendtsen and Amanda Lichtenstein |
New online content regulations prohibit certain topics without government approval.
When a major earthquake of 6.0 on the Richter scale shook coastal East Africa at around 8:15 on August 12, Tanzanians quickly took to Twitter to report on the unusual natural event that momentarily swayed chandeliers, shattered windows and cracked walls.
The earthquake hit beneath the Indian Ocean, approximately 82…
By Mohamed Suliman |
When confronted with basic information such as ”Boston is in Massachusetts,” for instance, humans readily limit feedback to “true” or “false.” This binary framework is simple and intuitive, but the world is far more complex, and humans require more nuanced categorical frameworks to determine the truth.
When technology companies and researchers go through the process of building and constructing frameworks…
By AccessNow |
Amplifying its clampdown on freedom of expression online, the Egyptian government is on a campaign to arrest and prosecute women influencers on the emerging social media platform TikTok for violating “the values of the Egyptian family” and “inciting debauchery and immorality.”
The crackdown on TikTok influencers in Egypt began on 23 April 2020 with the arrest of 20-year-old student Haneen Hossam, for…
Tanzania News Update |
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday called on Tanzania to scrap a new law regulating Internet content, saying it targeted critics who had sought a “safe haven” online. The new law requires the operators of online platforms to divulge the names of their sources and contributors if the authorities require it.
News websites and blogs that are in breach…
By Alliance For Affordable Internet |
Uganda’s government has passed a new tax that will require citizens to pay UGX 200 (US$0.05) per day in order to use messaging and voice over-the-top services (OTTs), including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Viber. The tax, slated to take effect on 1 July, will push the cost of basic internet access further out of reach…
Tanzania News|
Dar es Salaam. Be warned that failure to have a password for your mobile phone is now a crime which might earn you a fine of more than Sh5 million or imprisonment for 12 months or both.
This is in accordance to the newly introduced Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulation 2018 which was signed by Minister for Information,…
Sierra Leone News Update |
Sierra Leone’s telecom regulatory body, NATCOM, has denied claims it shut down internet access ahead of the country’s presidential elections.
The first round election on 7 March failed to produce an outright winner with no candidate securing 55% of votes as required by local electoral laws. A run-off election was called for Saturday 31 March.
As counting started, internet access…
Egyptian parliamentarians will soon review a draft anti-cybercrime law that could codify internet censorship practices into national law.
While the Egyptian government is notorious for censoring websites and platforms on national security grounds, there are no laws in force that explicitly dictate what is and is not permissible in the realm of online censorship. But if the draft law is approved, that will…