Uganda’s controversial Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill 2022, which rights groups say will likely be used to silence dissenting voices online, went into effect after the country’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni signed it into law yesterday.
The country’s lawmakers passed amendments to the Computer Misuse Act 2011 in early September, limiting the writing or sharing of content on online platforms, and restricting the distribution of children’s details without the consent of their parents or guardians.
The bill was presented to the House of Representatives to “deter the misuse of social media platforms and the Internet”. The document presented to the house stated that the move was necessary by reasoning that “the enjoyment of the right to privacy is affected by the misuse of online social media platforms through the sharing of unwanted, false, malicious, hateful and unjustified information.”
The new law, which also works to curb the spread of hate speech online, recommends several punitive measures including disqualification of perpetrators from holding public office for 10 years and imprisonment for individuals who “access data, information, audio, or video recordings of another person and share Any information relating to another person” via the Internet.
Rights groups and a section of online communities are concerned that the law may be misused by regimes, especially the current one, to limit freedom of expression and punish people who criticize the government. Some have plans to challenge it in court.
The concerns expressed by various groups come in the wake of increased repression against individuals who are not shy about criticizing the regime of Museveni (Uganda’s longest serving president, who also banned social media in the run-up to last year’s general election) on the internet.
Recently, Ugandan TikToker Teddy Nalupwa was imprisoned for recording and sharing a video that celebrated the death of the former Security Minister, who led forces that killed 50 civilians protesting the arrest of opposition politician Robert Kyogulani Sentamu (Bobby Wine) in 2020. Nalupwa, a member of Sentamu National Unity Platform, he was accused of abusive communications in contravention of the 2011 Computer Abuse Act amid public outcry over harassment and intimidation of opponents. Sentamu, a critic of Museveni and leader of the opposition in the country, said recently that the new amendment targets the likes of him.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had earlier called on Museveni not to sign the bill into law saying it was an additional arsenal that authorities could use to target critical commentators, and punish the media’s role by criminalizing the work of journalists, especially those who do. investigations.
The Cooperation for International Information and Communication Technologies Policy in Eastern and Southern Africa (CIPESA) also made recommendations including deleting Section 5, which prevents people from sending unsolicited information online, saying it could be misused and misused by the government.
In turn, a clear definition and scope of the terms “not required” and “required” should be given.
It also called for the abolition of punitive measures, and the deletion of items related to information and personal data, which is a repetition of the country’s data protection law.
CIPESA said the law was also likely to infringe on individuals’ digital rights including freedom of expression and access to information, adding that the rulings did not address issues, such as phishing and harassment, brought on by emerging technologies where the law sought to do in the first place.
Originally published at San Jose News Bulletin
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