the State’s enforcement of the national lockdown.” Any such publication should be considered “a false statement prejudicial to the State” for the purposes of Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. COMMUNICATIONS AND E-COMMUNICATIONS ACTS/POLICIES Communications legislation or policies are commonly found in southern Africa, in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Tanzania. These laws tend to share a common goal, which is maintaining peace and criminalizing the undermining of state-led initiatives. In total, seven countries have communications laws or policies addressing mis- and disinformation and falsehoods. Generally, Communications legislation tends to share a common goal, which is upholding peace and criminalizing the undermining of state-led initiatives. communications legislation vaguely addresses the spreading of false messages (the exchange of information), without any specification or distinction between the media type or the service provider distributing the message. In Lesotho, for instance, Section 44(1)(e) of the Communications Act, 2012, refers to a message circulating via a communications service. Press legislation and media legislation are also categorized under “communications,” as the two are closely related and often reflect the same principles. In Tanzania, Section 50(1)(a) of the Media Services Act 12 of 2016 makes it an offense for actors rendering media services to intentionally or recklessly publish or circulate false information. In addition, Section 50(2)(c) criminalizes the dissemination of false information without reasonable justification. Section 118(a) of the Electronic and Postal Communications Act, 2010, distinguishes between the use of “network or content services” to spread false information, and Section 10 of Regulation 16 of the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations of 2020 has a clause specifically prohibiting the publication of content that is false, untrue, misleading, or which is likely to mislead or deceive the public unless it is stated that such content is satirical or preceded by a statement that it is not factual. In Uganda, according to the Uganda Communications Act, 2013, news broadcasts should be “free from distortion of facts.” Article 21 of Burundi’s Press Law, 2018, is similar to media legislation in that it requires the media to “convey information honestly and faithfully” in accordance with constitutional principles and legal and professional ethics. Article 62 requires media I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH houses to refrain from publishing content that is contrary to morality, but morality is not defined. In addition to institutions, Article 54 of the Press Law specifically addresses journalists, requiring them to “demonstrate moral integrity and to be guided by facts” and “not to distort the texts and documents used to present the facts or comment on them,” and to “correct in a timely manner any published information which proves to be false or inaccurate.” In the DRC, Articles 76 and 77 of the Press Freedom Law broadly criminalize disinformation through any communications medium which incites specified acts such as theft, murder, pillage, or arson, or which threatens state security; these articles can even be applied to instances where the defined actions do not take place. The legislation may be aimed at strengthening journalistic practices by holding media service providers to account for spreading false information; however, vague definitions, such as of “false information” which threatens public peace or incites civil unrest, can potentially threaten media freedom. Furthermore, the legislation is unclear as to whether individuals working for these institutions or entities will be tried for these offenses. With the exception of Nigeria and Chad—the former has no communications legislation, and the latter’s Law No. 014/PR/2014 on e-Communications prohibits the intentional transmission of false information using distress signals or calls on radio—it can be inferred that e-communications legislation is viewed as an extra measure to combat and account for information disorder online. Previously, communications legislation mostly made reference to offline media. CYBERCRIME LEGISLATION Cybercrime can be defined as criminal activities that are carried out by using a computer or the internet. In some jurisdictions, cybercrime is regulated under normal criminal law, but in others, cybercrime is regulated by standalone laws that specifically relate to cyber activity. This study revealed that a total of ten countries make use of cybercrime laws to counter information disorder; however, in some instances, cybercrime laws are used in addition to already existing laws and serve as addenda rather than as the main legislation against information disorder. Of the ten countries, only Cameroon and Nigeria refer to mis- and disinformation in their cybercrime legislation. The remaining eight generally regulate cybercrime as a whole and emphasize the use of electronic media. Sub -Saharan Africa – 1 61