Online safety & content laws in Rwanda (2026)

Law No. 60/2018 on Prevention and Punishment of Cyber Crimes criminalises unauthorised system access, data manipulation, cyberstalking, and child exploitation online; it requires service providers to report cyber incidents and remove illegal content upon official request, without formal appeal mechanisms for affected users.

A Ministerial Instruction published in the Official Gazette on 23 January 2024 requires ISPs and digital content providers to deploy content-filtering tools, implement age-verification mechanisms to block children from age-inappropriate content, and label content suitability for minors.

Rwanda is advancing a proposal to ban children under 16 from accessing platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, leveraging the national digital identification system for age verification. As of early 2026 this has not yet been enacted as formal legislation.

In August 2024 RURA issued regulations requiring biometric verification for all SIM-card registrations, with mobile providers obliged to retain registration data for 10 years, substantially expanding the state's capacity to identify and monitor internet users.

Several Ugandan news websites (Daily Monitor, Independent, ChimpReports, Nile Post) remained blocked as of the 2024 Freedom on the Net coverage period. The Penal Code and Cybercrime Law criminalise 'false information' online, enabling prosecution of journalists and critics and sustaining widespread self-censorship.

The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) is the primary internet regulator; it and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) are empowered to monitor social media for prohibited content and issue takedown orders, with no public appeal procedure for users whose content is removed.