Internet & Online Safety · Kiribati
Internet & Online Safety - Kiribati
Kiribati has partial online-safety regulation anchored in the Cybercrime Act 2021, which criminalises unauthorised computer access, cyberstalking, and child-exploitation material, supported by accession to the Budapest Convention (in force October 2024). A Data Protection Bill passed its first parliamentary reading in April 2025 but is not yet enacted. No comprehensive platform-liability, content-moderation, or age-verification regime exists, and the government's own planning documents acknowledge the gap in harmful-digital-communications law.
Enacted August 2021 with Australian and Council of Europe technical support, the Act criminalises unauthorised system access, identity theft, cyberstalking, and distribution of child-sexual-abuse material; it does not establish platform-liability or content-moderation duties for intermediaries.
Kiribati signed the Convention on Cybercrime on 20 June 2024 in Strasbourg; it entered into force on 1 October 2024, making Kiribati one of 75 state parties and aligning its cybercrime law with international standards.
Described as Kiribati's first data-protection legislation, the Bill passed its first parliamentary reading on 1 April 2025; it would regulate personal-data processing and designate the Digital Transformation Office as enforcement authority, but had not been enacted as of the available sources.
Kiribati adopted a National Cybersecurity Strategy in 2020 establishing the Kiribati National Cybersecurity Agency and setting priorities for infrastructure protection, public awareness, and international cooperation.
Kiribati has no laws imposing content-moderation obligations on online platforms, no statutory age-verification requirements, and no harmful-digital-communications legislation; a UNCTAD 2024 gap analysis of Pacific small-island developing states confirms these lacunae.
The Ministry of Information, Communications & Transport (MICT) oversees ICT and digital policy; the Communications Commission of Kiribati (CCK) regulates telecommunications under the Communications Act 2013 and the National ICT Policy 2019.
Machine-assisted translation · verified 5/25/2026 · orientation, not legal advice. English version →