Abstract
This paper is devoted to uncover difficulties in establishing liability in online defamation in Tanzania. The focus is on the effectiveness of the current laws and regulations relating to online defamation; and the lack of awareness on the part of the general public on legal and practical challenges in establishing liability over defamatory comments occurring on the internet. The investigator discovered that, the existing legal framework in Tanzania cover issues of establishing liability in online defamation suffers from a number of inadequacies. Moreover the legal and practical challenges includes, the weakness of some law and regulations covering online defamation, limitation periods, jurisdiction and choice of law issues, investigation and admissibility of electronic evidence and its authenticity, identifying anonymous defendant and the rights to privacy. The author recommends that the government has to consider amending its law by taking on board the forgotten stakeholders opinions that would address by dealing with specific issues of liability in online defamation to internet users, Internet Service providers(ISP’s) and intermediary for their defamatory comments.
Highlights
The law of defamation developed historically as a means of protecting reputations
The focus is on the effectiveness of the current laws and regulations relating to online defamation; and the lack of awareness on the part of the general public on legal and practical challenges in establishing liability over defamatory comments occurring on the internet
The investigator discovered that, the existing legal framework in Tanzania cover issues of establishing liability in online defamation suffers from a number of inadequacies
Summary
The law of defamation developed historically as a means of protecting reputations It does so by providing a party with a means of redress in the event that their reputation is unfairly damaged by a third party. The internet is more accessible than ever before, and its interactive nature makes it easy for anyone to write messages or post content online. While this increased, the ability to share information has provided society with many benefits; it has introduced increased risks.. In Tanzania the laws include, The Media Services Act 2016, The Cybercrimes Act 2015 and The Access of Information Act 2016 Such rules in relation to social media and publication on the internet are the same as for any other publication. Publication on the internet does give rise to a number of difficulties in practice such as: many people say things online which they would not otherwise say, determining the place of publication, and whether Tanzanian courts have jurisdiction and what law applies, identification of publisher(s), wide dissemination of content,whether publisher is liable in a linked site and whether a search engine, such as Google, is liable for the publication of results which it generates
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