Assignment #9: Global Media Law & Ethics
Here in the United States, we are awarded many freedoms that are not afforded to people in other countries. It is not uncommon to hear people in the United States talk about protecting their first amendment right, the freedom of speech, although many people are not referencing it correctly. Meanwhile, in other countries, their governments are attempting to add restrictions to journalists and even everyday citizens on their social media accounts. Although I have heard about countries placing rigid restrictions on journalists because their truthful and informative articles could cause the less fortunate to revolt and get the oppressive government overturned.
Lesotho is a small mountainous African country that is landlocked by South Africa. The country has just over two million citizens and the country’s leadership is now trying to place strict restrictions on the social media users of the country. The country wants to mandate those with more than 100 followers on their social media accounts to register with the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) as “internet broadcasters”. Anyone found to be posting things to their social media platform that does not meet the approval of the LCA can be arrested. Having seen similar laws and bills based in other African countries they are believing the same will happen for them as well.
Lesotho is not the first country in Africa to place these types of restrictions on its people. Over in Zimbabwe, president Emerson Mnangagwa and his administration have been arresting all that they find to be critics because of their social media posts that they disagree with. Zimbabwe is still hoping to further its bill for Cyber Crimes that some legal experts say will result in more “internet broadcasters” being arrested. Other countries like Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania have already implemented laws that allow them to impose heavy oversight on social media users. In Uganda in particular this past October they made it mandatory for content producers for blogs, vlogs, and YouTube to obtain a license from the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC). The country of Tanzania passed its Online Content Regulations in 2020, which makes it a crime to “ridicule, abuse or harm the reputation, prestige or status of the United Republic of Tanzania. In the western region of Africa in Burkina Faso, they had regulations passed that make it a criminal act to speak out and communicate information about the security sector, despite all the allegations of human rights abuse. The Southern Centre for Inequality Studies says that these bills that various countries are attempting to pass are impractical and bring into question the true intent of the countries.
Comments
Post a Comment