Tanzania bloggers win temporary court order against $900 licence fees
Tanzanian bloggers and rights activists won a
temporary court injunction on Friday against a government order to
register their online platforms that raised concern about a crackdown on
free speech.
Tanzania’s communications regulator had given bloggers, as
well as owners of other online forums such as YouTube TV channels, until
May 5 to heed tough new internet content rules through state
registration and a licence fee of up to $900.
Six human rights watchdogs, media organisations and bloggers filed a
joint case in Tanzania’s high court asking the judiciary to block
implementation of the regulations, arguing that they violate freedom of
expression and privacy of internet users.
The new rules also require bloggers to furnish details of shareholders, share capital, citizenship of owners, staff qualification and training programmes, as well as a tax clearance certificate, to obtain an operating licence.
Bloggers convicted of defying the new rules could be fined at least 5 million shillings ($2,200) or imprisoned for a minimum 12 months, or both.
Most bloggers in the East African country are individuals, without registered companies, making it difficult for them to meet the registration requirements.
Is Magufuli cracking down on free speech?
Digital activists said the move was the latest salvo in a swoop on
dissent and free speech by President John Magufuli, who was elected in
2015 on pledges to speed up economic growth and rein in corruption.
On April 20, Magufuli ordered legal action against anyone deemed to
be abusing freedom of expression by posting misleading anti-government
statements on social media.
Several Tanzanian bloggers had begun shutting down their websites to avoid punitive action ahead of the deadline.
Elsie Eyakuze, a blogger and newspaper columnist, said the government was citing taxation as a pretext to muzzle dissent.
“The Tanzanian blogosphere is too minute to generate anything worth
taxing, but it has punched above its weight lately. So it is with a
clean heart that I announce the icing of (my) Mikocheni Report,” she
wrote in her blog on Thursday.
The number of internet users in Tanzania rose 16 percent in 2017 to
23 million, around 44 percent of the population, with most using their
smartphones to go online.
Last month, Uganda, another East African country acting to regulate
internet use, announced plans to slap a new tax on social media users.
REUTERS
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