Incident
Tanzania requires bloggers and online publishers to register and pay an annual government fee
Tanzania's government, under President John Magufuli, issued regulations requiring anyone running a blog or website with user content to register with the telecoms regulator and pay an annual fee reported at roughly $930, with vaguely worded content bans.1234
What happened
On March 16, 2018, Tanzania's government issued the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations, requiring bloggers, online publishers and operators of websites with user-generated content to register with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) and pay a licensing fee reported at roughly $930 a year, a large sum in a country where average annual income is a small fraction of that. The regulations banned vaguely defined categories of content, including material causing "annoyance" or leading to "public disorder," and let the TCRA order content removed without judicial process. The advocacy group ARTICLE 19 said the TCRA "is not independent and giving the body the power to determine illegal content and order its removal lacks due process guarantees." Local media reported officials said the fee was meant to curb "moral decadence" online. Six human-rights and media groups challenged the fee in court and won an injunction in April 2018 while the case proceeded.1234
What reason was given
Stated justificationOfficials said the regulations were meant to curb what local reporting described as "moral decadence" online and to make bloggers and online publishers accountable in the way licensed broadcasters already were.4
What changed for reporting
Anyone running a blog or user-content website had to register and pay roughly $930 a year, a large sum locally, or risk prosecution; ARTICLE 19 said the regulator enforcing the rule "is not independent" and lacked "due process guarantees" for content takedowns.3
Timeline
2018
Who acted
| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
|---|---|---|
| John Magufuli | ordered | President of Tanzania |
Sources
- Tanzania: Restrictive regulations on online content signed into law
- Tanzania's bloggers fight back against $930 fee as court grants injunction archived copy
Claims and evidence
Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.
- The regulations imposed an annual licensing and registration fee payable to the telecoms regulator.
They also impose a licensing and registration fee to paid annually to the TCRA.
Tanzania: Restrictive regulations on online content signed into law, ARTICLE 19, 2018-04-06.Claim 293, checked 2026-09-22. - The regulations required mandatory registration and licensing of bloggers and others engaged in journalistic activity online.
The regulations introduce mandatory registration and licensing of bloggers or any other member of the general public engaged in journalistic activities.
Tanzania: Restrictive regulations on online content signed into law, ARTICLE 19, 2018-04-06.Claim 294, checked 2026-09-22. - ARTICLE 19 said the regulator lacked independence and due-process safeguards for content removal.
The TCRA is not independent and giving the body the power to determine illegal content and order its removal lacks due process guarantees.
Tanzania: Restrictive regulations on online content signed into law, ARTICLE 19, 2018-04-06.Claim 295, checked 2026-09-22. - Officials said the regulations were meant to curb moral decadence online.
The government has introduced the regulations to curb 'moral decadence.'
Tanzania's bloggers fight back against $930 fee as court grants injunction archived copy, CNN, 2018-04-12.Claim 296, checked 2026-09-22.