As Kenyan general elections draw closer, citizens
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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