Online safety & content laws in Tanzania (2026)

The Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations 2020, made under the EPOCA 2010, require all online content service providers — including bloggers, social-media operators, and website owners — to register with and be licensed by the TCRA. The January 2025 amendments (GN No. 57 of 28 January 2025) tightened application procedures, expanded prohibited-content categories, and added explicit bans on AI-generated 'unethical or fabricated' content.

Under the 2020 Regulations (as amended), ISPs must block prohibited content and avoid hosting it; online content platforms must proactively filter content and, upon notice of a prohibited post, notify the uploader within two hours; if the user fails to remove it within those two hours, the platform must revoke that user's access. Non-compliance exposes operators to fines of approximately USD 2,172 and/or at least 12 months' imprisonment.

The Cybercrimes Act 2015 criminalises publication of false, deceptive, or misleading information (minimum six months' imprisonment under Section 16), child pornography, racist/xenophobic material, and 'unsolicited messages'. Vaguely drafted provisions on 'false information' have been used to prosecute journalists, bloggers, and opposition figures for social-media posts critical of the government.

In May 2025 the TCRA announced it had shut down more than 80,000 websites, social-media accounts, blogs, and online platforms for 'unethical content posing risks to children's mental health', without publishing evidence or an appeals process. In September 2025 the TCRA suspended JamiiForums' operating licence for 90 days, blocking access to Tanzania's largest online discussion forum for allegedly publishing content that 'misleads the public' or 'defames' the president.

On 29 October 2025 the Tanzanian government imposed a nationwide internet shutdown coinciding with general elections, cutting off mobile data and blocking WhatsApp, X, Instagram, TikTok Live, and other platforms. The blackout lasted five days (to 3 November 2025), the longest election-related internet shutdown in Tanzania's history. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and the Global Network Initiative publicly condemned the shutdown.

In May 2026 Tanzania's digital-rights record was examined at the UN Universal Periodic Review, with civil society submissions documenting censorship, surveillance, and online-freedom violations. A case before the East African Court of Justice, brought by Tanzanian media and civil-rights groups, challenges key provisions of the Online Content Regulations as incompatible with the East African Community Treaty's free-expression guarantees.