Online safety & content laws in Central African Republic (2026)

Loi No. 24/001, adopted in January 2024, is the country's first dedicated data protection statute. It establishes obligations for data controllers and processors, grants individual rights, and applies to any processing with effects in CAR territory, including for public security and judicial proceedings.

As recorded by the Council of Europe Octopus Programme, CAR has adopted no stand-alone cybercrime legislation and no national cybercrime strategy. The Penal Code contains only two relevant provisions: Article 164 (fraud with electronic data) and Article 111 (child pornography). There is no dedicated cybercrime unit and no national CERT.

CAR ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), which entered into binding force for the country on 8 June 2023. The convention sets regional baseline standards for cybersecurity, electronic transactions, and personal data protection.

In May 2025 the National Assembly revised the press freedom law to re-introduce criminal penalties for broadly defined 'press offences' (incitement to crime, threats to national security), reversing decriminalisation in place since 2020. This affects online as well as print journalism and creates chilling effects on digital speech.

CAR has enacted no legislation imposing content-moderation duties, platform liability, or age-verification obligations on online services. The country is not party to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, and the Criminal Procedure Code lacks corresponding procedural powers.

Internet penetration in CAR is among the lowest globally (estimated at around 11–15% as of recent years), limiting the practical impact of digital regulation. Journalists and civil society nonetheless report self-censorship online, and a draft 'foreign agents' law modelled on Russian legislation was under parliamentary consideration as of October 2024.