Kenyans to Face Sh1 Million Fine or 5 Year Jail Term for Inciting Violence on Social Media

Kenyans posting inflammatory content on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp could face a fine of up to Sh1 Million or a jail term of five years if proposed regulations to police the social media are adopted.

This is after the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) drafted rules prohibiting Kenyans from being impolite, disrespectful or inciting violence when sharing political content.

Social media users posting political content will also be required to reveal their identities and any political affiliations.

When publishing any content on social media, one will be required to authenticate and validate the source of their content.

The government says that this will prevent Kenyans from spreading misleading rumours.

Administrators of various social media platforms shall be required to monitor all messages to ensure these rules are followed.

Bloggers sharing sponsored content will be required to unveil their political ‘godfathers’.

The draft guidelines for Prevention of Dissemination of Undesirable Bulk Political SMS and Social Media Content via Electronic Communications Networks (2017) are an update of similar rules authored in 2012 that did not take into consideration social media.

Kenyans are supposed to submit their comments on the regulations to the CA before July 04, 2017.

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