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Article Uganda: Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act Enacted

On October 14, 2022, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022 (the amendment), amending the 2011 Computer Misuse Act (the principal act). The amendment bill’s accompanying memorandum noted that the impetus for the amendment was that technological advancements have occurred since the enactment of the principal act in 2011 and the regulatory landscape has not kept up with the changes. The amendment broadens a key provision in the principal act (the offense of unauthorized access) and adds new provisions criminalizing certain activities, including unauthorized sharing of information about children and abuse of social media.

Unauthorized Access

One of the key changes that the amendment introduces broadens the provision in the principal act that criminalizes unauthorized access. The principal act stated that “[a] person who intentionally accesses or intercepts any program or data without authority or permission to do so commits an offence.” (Principal Act § 12(1).) The amendment expanded this, stating:

(1) A person who, without authorisation—

(a) accesses or intercepts any program or another person’s data or information;
(b) voice or video records another person; or
(c) shares any information about or that relates to another person, commits an offence. (Amendment § 1.)

The principal act defines the term “access” as “gaining entry to any electronic system or data held in an electronic system or causing the electronic system to perform any function to achieve that objective.” (Principal Act § 2.) A person is said to have authorized access to any program or data in a computer if “the person is entitled to control access to the program or data in question … or … the person has consent to access that program or data from any person who is charged with giving that consent.” (§ 5.)

In addition, the amendment enhanced the penalties applicable to this offense. Under the principal act, unauthorized access was punishable by a fine not exceeding 240 currency points (equivalent to 4.8 million Uganda shillings (UGX), about US$1,300) or a custodial sentence not exceeding three years, or both. (§ 12(7).) Under the amendment, the offense is now subject to much stiffer penalties: a fine not exceeding 750 currency points (equivalent to UGX15 million, about US$4,068) or a custodial sentence not exceeding 10 years, or both. (§ 1.)

Unauthorized Sharing of Information about Children

The amendment inserted a new provision into the principal act criminalizing unauthorized sharing of information about children. (§ 2.) Violation of this provision is, on conviction, punishable by a fine not exceeding the equivalent of US$4,068 or a custodial sentence not exceeding seven years, or both. (§ 23A.)

Hate Speech

The amendment inserts a new provision into the principal act barring anyone from writing, sending, or sharing information that is likely to:

(a)  ridicule, degrade or demean another person, group of persons, a tribe, an ethnicity, a religion or gender;
(b)  create divisions among persons, a tribe, an ethnicity, a religion or gender; or
(c)  promote hostility against a person, group of persons, a tribe, an  ethnicity, a religion or gender. (§ 3.)

Violation of this provision is, on conviction, punishable by a fine not exceeding the equivalent of US$4,068 or a custodial sentence not exceeding seven years, or both. (§ 26A.)

Unsolicited Information

The amendment bars sending to or sharing with another person “unsolicited information” through a computer unless the sending or sharing of the unsolicited information is in the public interest.” (§ 3.) It defines the term “unsolicited information” as “information transmitted to a person using the internet without the person’s consent, but does not include unsolicited commercial communication.” Violation of this provision is, on conviction, punishable by a fine not exceeding the equivalent of US$4,068 or a custodial sentence not exceeding seven years, or both. (§ 26B.)

Transmission of Malicious Information

The amendment criminalizes sending, sharing, or transmitting “malicious information about or that relates to another person through a computer.” (§ 3.) Violation of this provision is, on conviction, punishable by a fine not exceeding the equivalent of US$4,068 or a custodial sentence not exceeding seven years, or both. (§ 26C.)

Misuse of Social Media

The amendment makes it an offense for a person to use social media “to publish, distribute or share information prohibited under the laws of Uganda under a disguised or false identity.” (§ 3.) It defines the term “social media” as “a set of technologies, sites, and practices which are used to share opinions, experiences and perspectives, and includes YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, TikTok, SinaWeibo, QQ, Telegram, Snapchat, Kuaishou, Qzone, Reddit, Quora, Skype, Microsoft Team and Linkedin.” The crime of misuse of social media is, on conviction, punishable by a fine not exceeding 500 currency points (equivalent to UGX15 million, about US$ ,712) or a custodial sentence not exceeding five years, or both. (§ 26D.)

Reception

The enactment of the amendment has generated a great deal of criticism. On the same day the law was enacted, Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s director for East and Southern Africa, stated that “[t]his piece of legislation threatens the right to freedom of expression online, including the right to receive and impart information, on the pretext of outlawing unsolicited, false, malicious, hateful, and unwarranted information. It is designed to deliberately target critics of government and it will be used to silence dissent and prevent people from speaking out.” Robert Ssempala, the executive director for the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, noted, “This is really a big blow to freedom of expression and particularly to journalists doing investigative work because this law imposes untenable barriers to speech. We shall certainly challenge it in courts of law. So, all hope is not yet lost.”

Legal Challenge

On October 17, 2022, it was reported that a coalition of rights groups and attorneys filed a petition before the Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of the amendment. The petitioners are reportedly claiming that the amendment violates multiple provisions of the Constitution, including the supremacy of the Constitution clause; the protection of freedom of conscience, expression, movement, religion, assembly, and association clause; the economic rights clause; and the rights of access to information clause. A second petition has reportedly been filed before the same court.

Hanibal Goitom, Law Library of Congress
January 6, 2023

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Chicago citation style:

Goitom, Hanibal. Uganda: Computer Misuse Amendment Act Enacted. 2023. Web Page. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2023-01-05/uganda-computer-misuse-amendment-act-enacted/.

APA citation style:

Goitom, H. (2023) Uganda: Computer Misuse Amendment Act Enacted. [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2023-01-05/uganda-computer-misuse-amendment-act-enacted/.

MLA citation style:

Goitom, Hanibal. Uganda: Computer Misuse Amendment Act Enacted. 2023. Web Page. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2023-01-05/uganda-computer-misuse-amendment-act-enacted/>.