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In April and May, theInformation and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) had held a public consultation on the possibility of regulating social media. For the occasion, the filtering tool had been brandished, either a blockage of content deemed sensitive or denounced through a complaint. But as soon as the year ended, Facebook revealed that he could collaborate with Maurice and said he was ready to recruit a Mauritian for his office in South Africa in order to better moderate the content in the Mauritian context. According to the ICTA, the language barrier, that is to say, Creole and the local context would not be considered when requesting the removal of posts.
However, according to a decision of the Council of Ministers last Friday relating to the collaboration between the ICTA and Facebook, this definitively buries the proposed amendment of the ICT Act. This filtering project has been denounced by citizens, civil society and also by Mozilla-Internet Society, who wanted confidentiality to be preserved.
The Ministry of Technology established guidelines after meeting with officials from Facebook. Indeed, Facebook promises to review the communication process with local authorities in terms of content. Mauritians and members of the diaspora could be recruited to support Facebook in moderation.
Moreover, for the transmission of requests or requests for withdrawal of content, it will be the Computer Emergency Response Team Mauritius (CERT-MU), who will contact Facebook and not the ICTA, to ensure better assistance and coordination on ongoing cases.
It is moreover this type of agency, throughout the world, which deals with the giant of social networks. Technical assistance on emerging technologies and a visit by a delegation of Facebook are being considered.
This decision amputates any ICTA action to have more powers to investigate and regulate social media. The document of the opinions of Mauritians, civil society and the computer giants had raised an outcry. This comment document is still at ICTA and has never been made public.
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