Online safety & content laws in Niger (2026)

Ordinance No. 2024-28, signed 7 June 2024 by junta head Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, amended the 2019 cybercrime law to reinstate imprisonment that a 2022 reform had removed: 1–3 years plus fines of CFA 1–5 million for online defamation/insult, and 2–5 years plus CFA 2–5 million for disseminating data 'likely to disturb public order or undermine human dignity.'

Human Rights Watch reported in November 2025 that authorities have arrested and charged journalists under the cybercrime law, including for 'complicity in distributing documents likely to disturb public order,' reflecting use of the statute to suppress online speech rather than protect users.

In February–March 2025 the Minister of Communication announced plans to require social-media groups of 50+ members to obtain official authorization, citing taxation of informal commerce and the need to curb 'disinformation' and 'subversive' messaging — a proposed control measure, not yet an enacted comprehensive framework.

After the July 2023 coup the authorities suspended international broadcasters including France 24 and RFI, part of a sustained tightening of media and civic space, with national and international journalists facing arrest and legal pressure.

Niger has no comprehensive intermediary-liability, content-moderation-transparency, or mandatory age-verification regime for online platforms; obligations on platforms are not structured around child-safety or systemic-risk duties, but around criminalizing categories of content.

Personal data is governed by the 2022 data-protection law as amended by Law No. 2023-31 of 4 July 2023, with electronic communications regulated under Law No. 2018-45 of 2018 — distinct from any online-content-safety regime.