ZICTA and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) have no the capacity to adequately regulate the use of social media and other internet platforms in the country, says the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technologies.

And the Committee has recommended that government should step up sensitization programmes on the proper use of social media platforms instead of shutting them down.

Government, through the Ministry of Transport and Communications, has proposed to sponsor three bills in Parliament that will repeal and replace the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act No. 21 of 2009.

Among them is the Cyber Security and Cybercrimes Bill, 2018, aimed at criminalizing computer-based offenses and network related crimes.

However, in its report of the Second Session of the Twelfth National Assembly, the Committee observed that regulatory bodies such as the IBA and the Zambia Information Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) have inadequate capacity to regulate social media.

“Your committee observes that regulatory bodies such as the IBA and ZICTA do not have the capacity to adequately regulate the use of social media and other platforms in the country. Your committee urges regulatory agencies such as the IBA and ZICTA to devise means of regulating and censoring undesirable content on social media platforms. Your committee urges the government to formulate legislation that will facilitate the establishment of a media self-regulatory body,” the committee stated.

“Pursuant to this brief to your previous committee, your committee resolved that a detailed progress report should be submitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the development of infrastructure vis-à-vis the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The purpose of the progress report would be to update the Committee on the process so as to appreciate the challenges being faced in order to recommend the way forward. Your committee also resolved to engage various stakeholders as regards the progress made on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.”

The Committee learned that TopStar was not operating within its license parameters of the Digital Migration Policy.

“While noting that the Digital Migration Policy provides for the current broadcasting licensing framework to be transformed into two broadcasting licensing categories, namely: content service provider license and signal distributer license, that no single entity shall hold both types of licenses at the same time, your committee observes with concern that TopStar is not operating within the parameters of the policy because it is operating as a signal carrier, content distributors as well as a pay-TV. Your committee, therefore, urges the government to put measures in place to ensure that the operations of TopStar are within the parameters of the Digital Migration Policy, which provides that the public signal carrier will only hold one license for signal distribution,” it stated.

“Your committee is of the view that TopStar should forthwith cease being a content and Pay-TV provider. Your committee strongly urges the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services to ensure that TopStar unscramble local television stations’ contents in line with their licenses and the policy.”

And the Committee has recommended that government should step up sensitization programmes on the proper use of social media platforms instead of shutting them down.

“The government should step up sensitization programmes regarding the proper use of social media platforms instead of closing them down. Some social media platforms were being used to advance hate speech, divisions, vulgar language and pornography. The Committee notes that there is no capacity-building in online training to provide for standards and quality regarding online reporting. Your committee expresses concern at the rise in unethical reporting by some journalists in the country. Your committee implores the government, through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, to ensure that all broadcasting stations and training institutions have a copy of the National Information and Media Policy in addition to the existing institutional guidelines in order to guide their journalists adequately. Media houses should be encouraged to develop in-house ICT as well as social media polities,” the committee submitted to Parliament.

The parliamentary committee further learnt that the contractor of the Digital Migration exercise experienced challenges in accessing the loan.

“Your committee was informed that some of the challenges faced during the implementation of the Digital Migration Policy were [that] the contractor had consistently lamented that the loan had taken long to be released causing the contractor to fund (i) rehabilitation of the TV1 studio, ZANIS and Kitwe studios; (ii) all the thirty-digital transmitters; (iii) training of the members of staff in China; and (iv) works on the OB Vans in China. The Digital Migration Policy directed that the signal distributors shall be responsible for carriage of the signal received from the content service provider; distribution of the signal of designated transmission sites; broadcast the signal in line with the content service providers’ license. All private broadcasters’ licenses were free-to-air (FTA), but as at 1st October, 2017, all their channels were encrypted without any agreement with the Pay-TV service provider. According to the Digital Migration Policy, the government was supposed to ensure protection of the consumer and guarantee access to information. To implement this measure, the government was to ensure that free-to-air programme channels were accessible, but this had not been the case,” the Committee further stated.

The Committee also revealed that private television stations had no say in terms of revenue collection and sharing on digital TV platforms.

“Private television stations had no say in so far as revenue-collection and sharing was concerned, and this was discrimination of the highest order as it was also against the international standard of revenue-sharing on TV digital platform. The stakeholders insisted that nowhere in the world, except Zambia, was this the case. Despite private stations providing content to the carrier, they had to pay to access their own channels. This was a clear impediment to ownership,” reported the Committee.