The
citizens of Kenyan have now been warned by the
government to avoid sharing untruthful or inflammatory content on social media
platforms or face a fine of up to Sh1 million or a jail term of five years if
the proposed regulations to police web content is adopted.
The Communications
Authority and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission in a statement
said they have co-authored the draft rules that will punish Kenyans for being
impolite, disrespectful or inciting violence when sharing political content.
“All social media
content shall be written using a civilized language that avoids a tone and
words that constitute hate speech, ethnic contempt, and incitement to
violence,” say the regulations.
“All comments shall be
polite, truthful and respectful.”
According to the
Commission, those posting inflammatory content will face punitive action in
line with the NCI Act, which stipulates fines of up to Sh1 million and jail
terms of up to five years. The regulations also leave it open for offenders to
be punished under a raft of other laws.
Social media users
posting political content will also be required to reveal their identities and
any political affiliations. This means that bloggers sharing sponsored content
may finally have to unveil their political godfathers.
The statement also
indicated that those publishing content on social media will have to
“authenticate, validate the source and truthfulness of their content”.
This, the government
says, will forestall the spread of potentially misleading rumours.
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