Online safety & content laws in Cameroon (2026)

Legal framework

Law No. 2010/012 of 21 December 2010 on Cybersecurity and Cybercrime; ANTIC (National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies); ART (Telecommunications Regulatory Board); Law No. 2024/017 on Personal Data Protection; Ministerial Decision of 04 April 2025 on the National Electronic Communications Aggregation Platform (NECAP)

Key points: internet & online safety in Cameroon

1. 01Cybercrime Law, speech provisions

   Law No. 2010/012 (December 2010) criminalises online 'false news' and 'disturbance of public order' under Articles 78 and 113, with penalties of up to six months' imprisonment, but lacks precise definitions, enabling arbitrary enforcement against journalists and activists.

   minpostel.gov.cm dig.watch

2. 02Internet shutdowns & social-media blocks

   Cameroon imposed a 93-day social media and internet blackout in its Anglophone regions in 2017-2018, costing an estimated $38 million. A further shutdown and social-media block (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Telegram) was imposed on 23 October 2025 amid protests over the presidential election, with Proton VPN signups from Cameroon surging 3,000%.

   accessnow.org technext24.com

3. 03Data Protection Law 2024

   Law No. 2024/017 on Personal Data Protection was adopted on 23 December 2024, making Cameroon the 38th African country to enact such a law. It prohibits processing of sensitive categories (health, biometric, political, religious data) and requires controllers to comply by June 2026. A dedicated independent Data Protection Authority is to be constituted by presidential decree.

   pollicy.medium.com africanlawbusiness.com

4. 04Mandatory platform registration, NECAP (2025)

   A Ministerial Decision of 4 April 2025 created the National Electronic Communications Aggregation Platform (NECAP), managed by state postal operator CAMPOST, and gave digital platforms three months to connect and register. ART sets access rules; ANTIC issues cybersecurity compliance certificates, embedding state oversight into platform operations.

   4mlegaltax.com iselflawammaster.com

5. 05Regulatory bodies

   ANTIC (National Agency for ICT) oversees cybersecurity certification and electronic-signature infrastructure; ART (Telecommunications Regulatory Board) licenses operators and sets interconnection rules. Neither body operates as an independent online-safety regulator in the consumer-protection sense.

   antic.cm art.cm

6. 06Budapest Convention & freedom ratings

   Cameroon acceded to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime by Decree No. 2022/169 of 23 May 2022. Despite this international alignment, Freedom House rates Cameroon 'Not Free' in Freedom in the World 2026, and Reporters Without Borders ranked it 131st of 180 countries in press freedom in 2025, reflecting the wide gap between legal commitments and practice.

   coe.int freedomhouse.org rsf.org

Timeline of decisions

1. 23 Oct 2025Incident
   Post-election internet blackout and social media ban following disputed presidential vote

   The government imposed nationwide internet disruptions and blocked TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram beginning 23 October 2025 amid protests disputing the Constitutional Council's confirmation of President Paul Biya's re-election. Proton VPN recorded a 3,000% surge in Cameroonian sign-ups on the first day of disruption. International digital-rights groups condemned the action as an unlawful suppression of protest communication.

   Africanews

2. 1 Oct 2024Guidance
   Government ministerial communiqué bans all media discussion of president's health

   Amid rumours about President Biya's health, a ministerial communiqué issued to regional governors formally banned any media discussion of the subject, one year before the presidential election. The directive was enforced through the National Communication Council (CNC) and underscored the use of administrative orders, rather than legislation, to restrict online and broadcast content.

   Committee to Protect Journalists

3. 29 Jul 2024Enforcement
   Social-media activist arrested for TikTok videos urging voter registration

   Human Rights Watch documented the arrest of a social-media activist on charges of 'incitement to rebellion' and 'propagation of false information' under the 2010 Cybersecurity Law, in connection with TikTok videos encouraging democratic participation ahead of the 2025 elections. The case illustrated how cybercrime provisions are routinely weaponised against peaceful online speech.

   Human Rights Watch

4. 25 Jul 2023Law · official
   Law No. 2023/009, Charter on Child Online Protection enacted

   President Biya signed Cameroon's first dedicated child-online-safety statute, setting the digital age of majority at 18, requiring ISPs and social-network operators to implement parental controls and report child sexual abuse material, and enabling ANTIC to levy penalties within 15 days of non-compliance. It is the first African law to define 'digital majority' in a standalone child-protection framework.

   Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon

5. 1 Jan 2018Decision
   Civil-society lawsuit against internet shutdown dismissed by Constitutional Council

   The NGO Global Concern Cameroon petitioned Cameroon's Constitutional Council to strike down the Anglophone internet shutdowns as unconstitutional violations of freedom of expression. The Court declared the petition inadmissible for lack of locus standi, only the President, parliamentary leaders, or one-third of legislators may petition the Court, effectively closing judicial review to civil society on internet shutdown legality.

   Columbia Global Freedom of Expression

6. 1 Oct 2017Incident
   Second Anglophone shutdown: social-media-only block imposed across two regions

   Following renewed protests in the Anglophone crisis, the government ordered a targeted block of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp across the North-West and South-West regions; the block persisted for over 100 days into early 2018. Combined with the first shutdown, the two Anglophone internet restrictions cost Cameroon an estimated $38 million and drew international condemnation.

   Al Jazeera

7. 17 Jan 2017Incident
   First Anglophone internet blackout, 93-day total shutdown of two English-speaking regions

   The government ordered a complete internet cut-off in the North-West and South-West regions following teacher and lawyer strikes against Francophone bias. The blackout lasted 93 days (restored 20 April 2017), was the first government-ordered internet shutdown in sub-Saharan Africa at that scale, and drew a statement from the UN Human Rights Council. ANTIC was the regulatory body through which the order was technically executed.

   Access Now

8. 17 Jan 2017Incident
   Government Orders 93-Day Internet Shutdown Across Anglophone Regions

   Cameroonian authorities cut internet access entirely in the English-speaking North West and South West regions on 17 January 2017; the blackout lasted 93 days and cost the economy at least USD 38 million, exposing how centralised state control of the CAMTEL fibre backbone can be weaponised and triggering lasting digital-rights and cybersecurity debates.

   CNN

9. 21 Dec 2010Law · official
   Law No. 2010/013, Electronic Communications Law

   Enacted alongside the cybercrime law, this statute created the licensing and regulatory framework for all electronic communications networks and services, replacing the outdated 1998 Telecommunications Law. It established the Telecommunications Regulatory Board (ART/TRC) as the sector regulator and laid the infrastructure-governance foundation for later internet-safety obligations.

   Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon

10. 21 Dec 2010Law · official
    Law No. 2010/012, Cybersecurity and Cybercriminality Law

    Cameroon's landmark cybercrime statute criminalised unauthorised access, data manipulation, digital fraud, identity theft, child pornography, hate speech, and, critically, the 'dissemination of unverifiable information', a clause later used to prosecute journalists and activists. It also established ANTIC as the Root Certification Authority and set procedural rules for law-enforcement seizure of digital evidence.

    Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon

Sources

1. 1.minpostel.gov.cm/index.php/en/les-textes/telecoms-tic/lois-telecoms-tic/179-law-no-201
2. 2.dig.watch/resource/the-law-no-2010-012-of-21-december-2010-on-cybersecurity-and
3. 3.pollicy.medium.com/key-features-of-law-2024-017-on-personal-data-protection-in-cameroon-
4. 4.africanlawbusiness.com/expert-views/key-features-of-cameroons-new-data-protection-law/
5. 5.4mlegaltax.com/digital-platforms-in-cameroon/
6. 6.accessnow.org/united-nations-urged-intervene-cameroon-stop-violence-internet-shutdo
7. 7.technext24.com/2025/11/05/cameroon-internet-blackout-protest-biya/
8. 8.coe.int/en/web/octopus/country-wiki-ap/-/asset_publisher/CmDb7M4RGb4Z/content
9. 9.freedomhouse.org/country/cameroon/freedom-world/2026
10. 10.rsf.org/en/country/cameroon
11. 11.antic.cm/index.php/en/the-agency/presentation.html
12. 12.art.cm/en/missions
13. 13.iselflawammaster.com/cameroon-2025-new-compliance-guidelines-for-digital-platforms/