Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and Suppression Proclamation No. 1185/2020 (Ethiopia)

The Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and Suppression Proclamation No. 1185/2020 was adopted by the House of Peoples' Representatives on 13 February 2020 and entered into force on 23 March 2020. It is Ethiopia's principal content-regulation statute targeting online and offline speech, and a central instrument for digital rights because of its direct effect on expression on social-media platforms. The Proclamation criminalises 'hate speech', defined as speech that deliberately promotes hatred, discrimination or attack against a person or identifiable group on the basis of ethnicity, religion, race, gender or disability, and 'disinformation', false information disseminated by a person who knew or should have known it to be false and that is likely to cause a public disturbance, riot, violence or conflict. It provides graduated penalties of fines and imprisonment, with higher penalties where speech is disseminated through broadcasting, a written publication or social media to more than a threshold number of followers, or where it results in violence or death. It places duties on social-media providers to act against prohibited content, including to remove or take measures against hate speech and disinformation upon notification and to develop internal procedures, and assigns oversight and awareness functions to the Ethiopian Media (Broadcasting) Authority and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. This entry is included in the Digital Rights collection as a content-regulation and platform-liability instrument. It has been extensively criticised by Access Now, ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Ethiopian legal scholars as containing vague and overbroad definitions, particularly of 'disinformation', that risk criminalising legitimate expression, journalism and dissent, and as conferring wide discretion on the authorities. Commentators have linked it to the contraction of the post-2018 reform-era opening of civic space. The strength of safeguards should not be overstated: although the Proclamation references constitutional free-expression standards and sets some thresholds, it relies on broadly framed offences, and enforcement runs through the ordinary criminal-justice system and the Broadcasting Authority rather than an independent speech-protective body. The entry is cross-referenced to Ethiopia's Computer Crime Proclamation, with which it overlaps in regulating online conduct.

1. 1Criminalises 'hate speech' (incitement to hatred/discrimination/attack on protected grounds) and 'disinformation' (knowingly false information likely to cause disturbance or violence)
2. 2Graduated fines and imprisonment, with higher penalties for dissemination via broadcasting, publications or social media above a follower threshold, or where harm results
3. 3Imposes duties on social-media providers to act against and remove prohibited content upon notification and to adopt internal procedures
4. 4Assigns oversight/awareness roles to the Ethiopian Media (Broadcasting) Authority and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
5. 5Criticised (Access Now, ARTICLE 19, CPJ) as vague and overbroad, risking criminalisation of legitimate expression and journalism
6. 6Adopted 13 February 2020; in force 23 March 2020; overlaps with the Computer Crime Proclamation