Tanzania Policies Affecting Disinformation
From ADTAC Disinformation Inventory
Legislation
Tanzania has levied new regulations against online publishers which charge for the privilege $920 for the privilege of publishing online which is more than that annual per capita income in the country.[1]
Tanzania does not have specific legislation covering disinformation but there are five laws which may impact disinformation:
- The 2010 Electronic and Postal Communications Act makes it a crime to use a communication network to "create, solicit or initiate the transmission of communication" that is "false with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person".[2]
- The 2015 Cybercrimes Act made a "criminal offence of publishing information or data in a computer system, knowing that it is false, deceptive, misleading or inaccurate, and where they have an intention to defame, threaten, abuse, insult or otherwise deceive or mislead the public, or to counsel the commission of an offence"[3] The law could potentially be interpreted in a broad sense and it is unclear what is meant by "false".
- The 2016 Media Services Act has a number of sections which "Section 50(1)(a) of the Act makes it an offence for any person to use a media service for the purposes of publishing information which is intentionally or recklessly falsified in a manner which threatens the interests of defence, public safety, public order, the economic interests of the country, public morality or public health; or is injurious to the reputation, rights and freedom of other persons. Section 50(1)(b) prohibits the use of a media service to publish information which is maliciously or fraudulently fabricated. Section 50(1)(d) makes it an offence to publish a statement when knowing it to be false or without reasonable grounds for believing it to be true. Section 50(2) further criminalises, inter alia, disseminating false information without justification."[4]
- The 2018 Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations make it illegal for providers of online services to publish "content which threatens national security or public health and safety, such as false information with regards to outbreak of racial disturbances in a specific part of the country; and false content which is likely to mislead or deceive the public, except where it is clearly pre-stated that the content is satire and parody, fiction, and preceded by a statement that the content is not factual."[5]
- The 2020 Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations makes it illegal to publish "content which threatens public security and national safety, including rumors for the purpose of ridicule, abuse or harming the reputation, prestige or status of the United Republic, the flag or national anthem" or "false content which is likely to mislead or deceive the public, except where it is clearly pre-stated that the content is satire and parody, fiction, and preceded by a statement that the content is not factual."[6]
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