Online safety & content laws in Cape Verde (2026)

Law n°8/IX/2017 establishes substantive and procedural rules on cybercrime and electronic evidence, closely modelled on Portuguese law and aligned with the Council of Europe Budapest Convention. It covers offences such as illegal access, data interference, and system interference, and grants investigative powers including interception and undercover operations.

Decree-Law 9/2021 (29 January 2021) established the national cybersecurity legal regime, obliging designated entities to adopt legal, organisational, and technical security measures. The same decree created CSIRT.CV, the national Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Cape Verde's Data Protection Law (originally 2001, amended 2021) introduced GDPR-style rights — erasure, portability, restriction — opt-in consent, and extraterritorial scope for controllers processing data of persons in Cape Verde. It sets 16 as the minimum age for data-processing consent and regulates automated decision-making.

There is no specific statute governing the liability of hosting services or online platforms for user-generated content. The 2005 Electronic Communications framework (Decree-Law 7/2005) covers intermediate service providers but does not create content-moderation obligations; no DSA-equivalent or proposed online safety bill has been identified.

Cape Verde's Parliament approved accession to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in November 2014 (Resolution 116/VIII/2014) and the country has since ratified it, aligning domestic procedural cybercrime law with the Convention's standards. Cape Verde also signed the Second Additional Protocol (enhanced cross-border electronic evidence cooperation).

Cape Verde is rated 'Free' by Freedom House with no documented blocking or censorship of online content. The multisectoral regulator ARME (successor to ANAC) oversees spectrum, licensing, and consumer protection in electronic communications, but does not carry an online-safety mandate.