Malava MP Malulu Injendi has proposed a law which will require administrators of Facebook and WhatsApp groups will have to register with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) before setting them up.
Social media administrators will be required to seek licenses from CA by informing the authority of the intention to form the groups and shall be required to control the type of content members of the group post.
The Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill, 2019 states that moderators who allow offending content on their social media platforms will be held liable and thus face jail terms.
“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 Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Social media administrators face a fine not exceeding Ksh 250,000 or imprisonment of a term not exceeding one year.
Admins of WhatsApp groups will also be required to keep tight control of their group members and remove those who post offending content.
The Bill defines social media platforms as "online publishing and discussion, media sharing, blogging, social networking, document and data sharing repositories, social media applications, social bookmarking and widgets."
The communications regulator will be required to register all bloggers in the country and develop their code of conduct.
According to the Bill, Kenyans who run blogs without CA's approval could spend up to two years in jail or pay a fine of up to Ksh 500,000.
Any owner of a media platform will also be required to monitor it, to ensure that all its users "are of the age of the majority.”
This move will be used to lock out minors from joining or posting comments on social media platforms controlled by adults.
