Zambia Becomes the Latest African Country to Restrict Social Media Use

Zambian President Edgar Lungu

With the current trend being initiated by some African heads of states to put a limit to the use of social media within their countries and some going to the extent of taxing social media users, all now look like its gradually becoming a welcome development by those in affairs of technology in the continent as more countries are beginning to join the train.

Zambia is the latest African country to announce a plan to restrict social media use.

Addressing the parliament on Thursday, Communication Minister Brian Mushimba stated that social media in the country has been used to commit identity theft, send pornographic images and spread hate speech

According to him, it has also been instrumental in Zambian’s detachment from cultural norms.

“It is evident that social media in Zambia has become a catalyst for the detachment of members of the Zambian society from our cultural norms. Prior to the proliferation of social media, people in Zambia behaved and communicated within acceptable and expected cultural boundaries,” he said.

Consequently, the Zambian government is planning to draft, pass and implement by 2019, a law that would restrict such crimes.

The law is set to introduce penalties for those abusing online social media, but the minister has not stated the types of punishment and how the law would be enforced.

Zambia will join countries like Uganda, which recently restricted social media use by imposing a daily tax.