Malava MP Malulu Injendi has sponsored a bill which if passed into law will see social media group admins being held liable for wrong content shared on their platforms.
Under the bill, the Kenya Information and Communication Bill 2019, the admins of the social media forums will also be required to obtain authorization from the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) before setting up the discussion groups.
In the same vein, the Bill seeks to have all bloggers in the country registered by the CAK and a KSh 500,000 fine or a jail term not exceeding two years for those caught operating outside the law.
In a report published by The Standard, the social media admins will be required to moderate undesirable content and discussion on the platforms they control.
Also, the owner of the media platform will also be required to ascertain that all its users “are of age of majority.” meaning minors will not be allowed in such groups.
The Bill defines social media platforms to include “online publishing and discussion, media sharing, blogging, social networking, document and data sharing repositories, social media applications, social bookmarking and widgets.”
As it is with establishing a company, the Bill proposes that one those seeking to open social forums must have a physical address and data showing all its members.
The proposed legislation also seeks to compel CA develop a register of bloggers in the country and develop a bloggers’ code of conduct.
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