This archive report was first published on 24 September 2019.
Kenya's Communication Authority (CA) may soon be issuing licenses to social media group administrators, a move that could see Kenyans required to obtain government clearance before opening and running Facebook and WhatsApp groups.
According to a bill set to be introduced in the National Assembly this week, users and group administrators who allow offending content on their social media platforms could face jail time.
The Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill, 2019, proposes that social media group administrators will be required to inform the CA of their intention to form the groups and control undesirable content and discussion on the platform they control.
“A social media user shall ensure that any content published, written or shared through the social media platform does not degrade or intimidate a recipient of the content,” states part of the bill.
Those who contravene this provision could be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh. 200,000 or to an imprisonment of a term not exceeding one year.
WhatsApp group administrators will also need to keep tight control on their members and kick out those who post offending content.
The bill defines social media platforms to include online publishing and discussion, media sharing, blogging, social networking, document and data sharing repositories, social media applications, social bookmarking and widgets.
Bloggers who collect, write, edit and present news or news articles in social media platforms or the internet could also be affected by the regulations.
Those who run blogs without CA's authority could spend up to two years in jail or pay fines of up to Sh. 500,000.
