Online safety & content laws in Somalia (2026)
Online safety rules in Somalia: heavy restriction.
Somalia has no DSA/OSA-style online-safety or content-moderation law; the NCA regulates the telecom/internet sector technically, while online content is controlled through government bans and ISP blocking. The federal government has banned major platforms (TikTok, Telegram, 1XBet since Aug 2023), blocked ~12,000 websites/accounts (Dec 2024), and blocked news outlets and issued content directives (2025), and Al-Shabaab bans internet access in territory it controls, making the overall environment one of heavy state and non-state restriction rather than a structured safety regime. There are no formal age-verification or platform-liability rules for online safety.
Legal framework
No comprehensive online-safety/content-moderation statute. Online content is governed mainly through ad-hoc executive directives and ISP-level blocking ordered by the Ministry of Communications & Technology and enforced via the National Communications Authority (NCA), established under the Communications Act 2017. Adjacent laws (Data Protection Act 2023; Cybersecurity Law passed by Parliament Jan 2026) address privacy and critical-infrastructure security, not platform content liability or user-safety duties.
Key points: internet & online safety in Somalia
No comprehensive online-safety law
Unlike the EU DSA or UK Online Safety Act, Somalia has enacted no dedicated online-content/platform-safety statute; the NCA's mandate under the Communications Act 2017 covers telecoms, internet, broadcasting and ICT technically but does not impose DSA-style content-moderation or platform-liability duties.
Platform bans (TikTok, Telegram, 1XBet)
In August 2023 the Minister of Communications ordered ISPs to block TikTok, Telegram and betting site 1XBet, citing 'horrific' extremist content and misinformation linked to al-Shabaab; the ban is enforced via ISP-level blocking and remained in effect through 2025 with uneven enforcement.
Mass website/account blocking
In December 2024 the government reported banning roughly 12,000 websites and social media accounts it linked to al-Shabaab, part of a counter-propaganda strategy targeting the group's online recruitment and coordination.
Censorship of news outlets and content directives
In March 2025 the Ministry of Information directed a ban on publishing content deemed to 'threaten national security' or that 'misuses or fabricates information,' and news platform WardheerNews was blocked on Hormuud's network across Mogadishu and several federal states, alongside mass journalist arrests.
Non-state restriction by al-Shabaab
The armed group al-Shabaab has imposed bans on internet access and smartphones in territory it controls (later partly eased in some newly captured towns), adding a major non-governmental layer of internet restriction in parts of the country.
Adjacent laws: data protection & cybersecurity
The Data Protection Act 2023 (Law No. 005/2023, signed 21 Mar 2023) created a Data Protection Authority for privacy, and Parliament approved a National Cybersecurity Law in January 2026 focused on critical-infrastructure protection and a national CIRT (SOM-CIRT), neither establishes online-safety duties, age-verification, or platform content liability.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Communication_Authority_of_Somalia
- nca.gov.so/background-2/
- aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/21/somalia-bans-tiktok-and-telegram-over-horrific-content
- therecord.media/somalia-bans-tiktok-telegram-over-horrific-content-al-shabaab
- hornreview.org/2024/12/16/somali-government-bans-12000-websites-and-social-media-acc
- wardheernews.com/somali-government-launches-brutal-crackdown-on-free-speech-journalist
- indexoncensorship.org/2025/08/journalists-face-persecution-intimidation-and-physical-abuse-
- rsf.org/en/al-shabaab-bans-internet-areas-it-controls
- moct.gov.so/en/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Somalia-Data-Protection-Act-2.pdf
- hiiraan.com/national4/2026/Jan/204272/somalia_approves_cybersecurity_law_to_prote
- sonna.so/en/house-of-the-people-of-the-federal-parliament-of-somalia-approves-
- state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/somalia/
- somaliguardian.com/news/somalia-news/al-shabaab-eases-smartphone-internet-ban-in-newly-c
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Next topicOrientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 24 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026