Individuals in Kenya who are administrators of WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms might be required to pay for licenses in the not so distant future. That is if a bill by a Member of Parliament gets passed.
The bill which is articulated in an amended section of the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and sponsored by Malava Member of Parliament (MP); Moses Injendi, is aiming to make administrators of Facebook Groups and WhatsApp groups pay for licenses from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
The bill reads, “The Commission may on application in a prescribed manner and upon payment of a prescribed fee, grant a license authorising any person to establish a social media platform for purposes of communication.”
The proposed law if approved, will also require administrators of WhatsApp Groups to approve the content shared in the groups as well as the members via legal documents.
In addition, all administrators of WhatsApp groups will be expected to keep all the data of the members of their groups on the platform and submit said data to the Kenyan governments whenever it is required.
The group administrators must also make sure that the members of the WhatsApp groups are of the ‘age of majority.’
The bill added that, “Any person who contravenes the provision of this section shall be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding Ksh. 200,000 or to an imprisonment of a term not exceeding one year.”
The proposed bill also ensures that individuals in Kenya could be faced with a 500,000 Kenyan Shillings fine or a two year jail term for the posting of intimidating or degrading content online.
According to Gadgets Africa, individuals who run blogs without Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)’s license could get a fine of up to 500,000 Kenyan Shillings or up to two years in prison.
Any content that is deemed to be prejudicial against ethnicity, gender, race, religion, nationality, religion, political affiliation, language.
Appearance or ability will also be flagged.
