HARARE – Information Communication Technology (ICT) Minister, Tatenda Mavetera has distanced herself from recent media claims she plans, on behalf of government, to impose mandatory licence requirements on WhatsApp group administrators and consequent fines of US$2,500 for non-compliance.
In a statement she posted on her X handle Saturday, Mavetera said such penalties would only apply to platforms or administrators who collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for business or commercial use.
PII includes any data that could be used to identify individuals, such as names, phone numbers, or identification numbers.
Mavetera urged the public to disregard the claims, emphasizing that they were inconsistent with Zimbabwe’s legal framework, particularly the Cyber and Data Protection (Licensing of Data Controllers and Appointment of Data Protection Officers) Regulations under Statutory Instrument (SI) 155 of 2024.
“I would like to distance myself from the malicious fake news about the government’s intentions to license or penalize WhatsApp groups or administrators of any social media platform with fines of up to USD2,500,” Mavetera said.
“This claim is not applicable, especially to players who do not collect or process Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for commercial or business use. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is any data that can be used to identify someone, from their name and address to their phone number, passport information, and ID number.
“I have never expressed any intentions to license or penalize WhatsApp groups or administrators of any social media platform that do not collect and process PII for commercial or business use.”
Reports of a government plan to introduce licence requirements on private WhatsApp groups were met with outrage from the public which accused the state of attempts to criminalise and commodify free speech.
