Internet & Online Safety · Djibouti
Online safety & content laws in Djibouti (2026)
Djibouti shaded by its internet & online safety status
Djibouti enacted a landmark Digital Code on 30 June 2025 — the first comprehensive digital legislation in East Africa — spanning eight volumes and nearly 800 articles covering electronic communications, e-commerce, data protection, cybercrime, and regulation of online service providers and hosting platforms. While the Code introduces formal platform-operator obligations and cybercrime offenses, it is not a dedicated online-safety or content-moderation regime comparable to the EU DSA or UK OSA; supplementary regulatory provisions and the data-protection supervisory authority (CNDP) are not yet operationally established. In parallel, the government maintains pervasive state control over internet access through a state-owned telecom monopoly, deliberate network throttling to restrict social media, and website blocking, creating a dual reality of nascent formal law alongside heavy practical restriction.
Key points
The National Assembly adopted the Digital Code on 30 June 2025; it covers cybercrime (Book IV), cybersecurity, electronic communications, e-commerce, and the activities of internet operators (online service providers, publishers of public electronic communications, and hosting providers). It is described as the first such comprehensive code in East Africa.
Book IV of the Digital Code defines cybercrime offenses and responsibilities; in October 2025 Djibouti signed the UN Convention on Cybercrime as part of implementing the Code. A National Cyber Security Authority was launched in December 2025 to defend critical infrastructure and set technical standards.
The Digital Code establishes a GDPR-style data-protection regime with privacy by design, data minimisation, and 72-hour breach notification; it creates the CNDP supervisory authority. However, CNDP has not yet been operationally established, limiting enforcement, and supplementary regulatory decrees are still pending.
The government deliberately throttles internet speeds to restrict social media access, blocks the website of Radio LVD (a Djibouti exile outlet broadcasting from Paris), and operates a single state-owned telecom monopoly (Djibouti Telecom) that controls all fixed, mobile, and internet segments. Reporters Without Borders ranks Djibouti 168th out of 180 countries on press freedom.
Djibouti has no stand-alone online safety law, content-moderation framework, or age-verification regime comparable to the EU Digital Services Act or UK Online Safety Act. Platform liability and harmful-content obligations within the Digital Code remain broadly defined and are not yet operationalised through secondary legislation.
Freedom House and RSF document a pattern of arrests and intimidation for online speech: in 2025 activists and journalists were detained over social-media posts and civic broadcasting. These actions occur under existing penal provisions and, going forward, under cybercrime articles of the new Digital Code.
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