Mauritius' plan to regulate social media criticised

Potential changes to information and communications law in Mauritius have sparked debates regarding censorship of social media.

A committee to analyse content posted online, and an enforcement unit to implement the committee's decisions, are being proposed by Mauritius's regulator ICTA.

They say it's fight against the abuse and misuse of online networks, but many social media users think it amounts to spying on people and is an abuse of powers.

The ICTA has sought to reassure the population, explaining that online messaging applications like WhatsApp will not be affected by the proposed amendments.

The regulator also says it never intended to regulate the use of online messaging applications "because these types of communication are private in nature, unlike public posts on social media platforms".

ICTA has already sought the advice of Facebook's South Africa office to get its opinion on the proposal and to recommend alternative measures.

A total of 2,051 incidents were reported on the Mauritian Cybercrime Online Reporting System (MAUCORS) from January 2020 to January 2021, according to the ICTA.

Members of the public have until 5 May to submit their comments about the proposal.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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