Online safety & content laws in Honduras (2026)

Title XXII of the Penal Code (Decree 130-2017, effective November 2019) criminalises illegal system access, data interference, unauthorised interception of communications, computer fraud, and online child-exploitation content — the primary in-force layer of digital-conduct regulation.

A National Cybersecurity Law passed a special parliamentary commission in February 2018; it would require platforms to remove 'offensive' content within 24 hours of a complaint — with no judicial order required — and allow CONATEL to block non-compliant services. The bill was halted in its second legislative debate and had not been enacted as of 2025.

An executive decree expanded the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) to create a new department overseeing printed media, digital media, and social networks — beyond its traditional broadcast remit. Civil society and press groups warn this concentration of authority lacks adequate legal safeguards against censorship.

Honduras has no domestic safe-harbour or intermediary-liability framework for online platforms, and no enacted age-verification requirements for social media or adult content — placing it in line with most of Latin America, which has no equivalent to the EU's DSA or U.S. Section 230.

A draft Law for the Protection of Confidential Personal Data — modelled partly on the GDPR — was under congressional discussion in 2024, with initial chapters approved; a full enacted regime was not yet in force as of early 2025, leaving data protection reliant on constitutional privacy rights and sector-specific CNBS rules.

The 2011 Special Law on Interception of Private Communications authorises government interception of online and telephone messages; Freedom House's 2025 report notes this power, combined with violence and intimidation against journalists and activists, produces significant online self-censorship.