National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Chairman Francis Ole Kaparo in a past presser[Photo/kenyan-post.com]The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has come up with new guidelines to enable it tame use of social media on political messaging during this electioneering period.
The new guidelines were released by the commission's chair Francis Kaparo. The commission seeks to tame the transmission of inciting political content using text messages and social media posts.
“The message shall not contain inciting, threatening or discriminatory language that may or is intended to expose an individual or group of individuals to violence, hatred, hostility, discrimination or ridicule on the basis of ethnicity, tribe, race, colour, religion, gender or disability,” the guidelines state.
The guidelines also seek to stop political messages that are misleading, obscene, offensive, insulting and confusing.
When sending any messages one is required to avoid a tone and words that constitute hate speech, ethnic contempt and incitement to violence, harassment, abuse, violence, defamation or intimidation.
Mobile phone operators have been given more power to curb circulation of the messages seen to be inciting and offensive.
Likewise, media houses have been asked to verify the content, validate the source and seek its truthfulness before publishing.
“The rules provide that it shall be the responsibility of the content author to authenticate, validate the source and truthfulness of their content prior to publishing,” the guidelines say.
Those that violate the guidelines will be charged in line with the NCIC Act, the penal code and other relevant laws.
The NCIC Act provides a minimum of Sh1 million fine or a jail term of not exceeding three years or both.