A man stands in the street in Stone Town, Zanzibar, checking his phone. Photo by Pernille Bærendtsen, used with permission. Blogging has been popular in Tanzania for more than a decade, enabling writers and independent journalists to express views and report news that might not otherwise appear in mainstream media. But as of last month, this kind of work will come with a price tag. On March 16, 2018, the United Republic of Tanzania issued the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations demanding that bloggers must register and pay over USD $900 per year to publish online. Application 2. These Regulations shall apply to online content including: (a) application services licensees; (b) bloggers; (c) internet cafes; (d) online content hosts; (e) online forums; (f) online radio or television; (g) social media; (h) subscribers and users of online content; and (i) any other related online content. The new regulations have far-reaching implications for freedom of expression and human rights. Bloggers must fill out official regulatory forms and avoid publishing prohibited content including nudity, hate speech, explicit sex acts, extreme violence, “content that causes annoyance”, fake news, and “bad language” among other restrictions. The new regulations grant unrestrained power to the Tanzanian Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) to prescribe and proscribe. Under Part II, Number 4, TCRA then has the authority: (a) to keep register of bloggers, online forums, online radio and online television; (b) to take action against non-compliance to these Regulations, including to order removal of prohibited content iAfrikan News further explains: Online content publishers (blogs, podcasts, videos) will apply for a license at a fee of 100,000 Tanzanian Shillings (44 USD) pay an initial license fee of 1,000,000 Tanzanian Shillings (440 USD) and an annual license fee of 1,000,000 Tanzanian Shillings (440 USD). This means to run something as simple as a personal blog (text) if you live in Tanzania, you’d have to spend an initial (approximately) $900 (USD) in license fees. One immediate public concern regarding the new regulations is their ambiguity. In his latest post, blogger Ben Taylor analyzed the content of the regulations, taking note of a lack of clear definitions: The first thing to note is that these regulations are very unclear on several important points. Some terms – such as ‘online content provider’ and ‘online content service provider’ – are never defined. Are these the same thing? In other places, the title given to a section of the regulations bears no relation to its content – section 7, for example, has ‘bloggers’ in the title but nothing relevant to bloggers in the content. There are spelling and grammatical errors throughout. And perhaps most bizarrely, the main section on applications for online content service licenses – section 14 – doesn’t even require that applicants must submit their application – only that they must ‘fill in an application form’ – or say where it should be submitted. Taylor raises essential questions throughout his analysis. No one yet knows how these regulations will be interpreted by the Tanzanian Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), the police or the courts. What is clear is that breaches of the new law will be punishable with a fine of “not less than five million Tanzanian shillings” (around USD $2,500), or imprisonment for “not less than 12 months or both.” The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) issued a policy brief on the new regulation, warning against its ambiguity in certain sections: …[The] regulations should be reviewed and amended to have clear, unambiguous definitions and wording, and quash the requirement for registration of bloggers and users of similar online platforms. It is also essential that not too much power is vested in TCRA with regards to content take-downs and that diversity in content availability online is promoted. The obligations set out should not turn content service providers and publishers into monitors, by handing them responsibility such as use of moderating tools to filter content, conducting content review before publication, and undertaking mechanisms to identify sources of content. Blogging emerged in Tanzania around 2007 and became popular as an alternative news platform with educated, middle-class people, as well as politicians and political parties. In Tanzania, where media historically holds strong ties to government interests, blogging opened up possibilities for individuals to establish private news outlets that proved immensely powerful in terms of reach and readership.