Despite having enacted the Cyber Security and Cybercrime Bill a year ago, Zambia’s government remains concerned about what it calls “excessive abuse of social media” in the country.

Along with the legislation, officials have directed industry regulator the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) to eradicate social media abuse.

However progress has been slow and during his State of the Nation address, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said social media is still being abused and “used to spread hate speech, commit crime and corrupt the morals of the country.”

He added that these tech platforms are also being used to circulate fake news.

According to Hichilema the government will not prevent people from using social media, but warned it would “vigorously enforce laws to stop the abuse”.

He said, “Let us use these platforms for good and to foster the continued development of our democracy, creativity, entertainment, legitimate news and business, to name a few opportunities that social media brings.”

Ministry of Information and Media Director Thabo Kawana said recently that there is hope to “restore civility to cyberspace and social media in particular.”

Kawana said, “There is hope for civility because if every one of us is responsible and decides to use cyberspace in a responsible manner, we will progress in a manner that builds instead of destroying. So the hope is that all of us including politicians, civil society organisations and ordinary citizens, we should take it upon ourselves that we use cyberspace for putting out information in a responsible manner.”