Information and Communications (Amendment) Act, 2013 (The Gambia), online 'false news', derogatory statements and impersonation offences (section 173A)

The Information and Communications (Amendment) Act 2013 amended The Gambia's Information and Communications Act 2009 to criminalise a range of online expression. Enacted in July 2013 under the government of President Yahya Jammeh, it inserted section 173A and related provisions, which made it an offence to use the internet to spread 'false news' against the government or public officials, to make derogatory or caricaturing statements about officials, to incite dissatisfaction, or to impersonate public officials. The penalties were severe, up to fifteen years' imprisonment and/or a fine of three million dalasi, and the law was widely condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists, ARTICLE 19, Global Voices and others as a direct attack on online speech and a tool to silence the diaspora-driven online press. The Act is significant for ATLPF's Digital Rights record as one of West Africa's clearest examples of a statute expressly targeting online expression rather than cyber-dependent crime. Its provisions have been the subject of ECOWAS Community Court of Justice litigation: in Federation of African Journalists and others v The Republic of The Gambia (2018), the Court found The Gambia's criminal speech laws incompatible with the right to freedom of expression, and subsequent ECOWAS proceedings (2024) specifically addressed the criminalisation of 'false news', including the amendment of section 173A of the Information and Communications Act 2013, ordering the State to review and decriminalise these offences to bring them into line with international standards. These rulings are recorded in ATLPF's Cases database. Despite the post-2017 democratic transition and repeated commitments to media-law reform, the offending provisions had not been formally repealed as at June 2026; the Cybercrime Bill 2023 (gm-cyber-draft) is intended to consolidate and replace the cyber-related provisions of the 2009 Act and its 2013 amendment but remains pending before the National Assembly. The Act is therefore recorded as In Force, subject to the ECOWAS rulings and pending reform. The 2016 election-period disruption of internet and international calls was carried out without a publicly disclosed legal basis and is noted as a jurisdiction-level gap. A reliable official consolidated text of the 2013 amendment has not been located from a primary source and is flagged for a reviewer to confirm, together with the precise enactment and commencement dates. Source language: English.

1. 1Amends the Information and Communications Act 2009 to criminalise online expression (section 173A and related provisions)
2. 2Offences include using the internet to spread 'false news' against the government or officials, derogatory or caricaturing statements about officials, inciting dissatisfaction, and impersonating officials
3. 3Severe penalties: up to 15 years' imprisonment and/or a fine of three million dalasi
4. 4Condemned by CPJ, ARTICLE 19 and Global Voices as targeting the online press and diaspora commentary
5. 5Subject of ECOWAS Court litigation: FAJ and others v The Gambia (2018) and 2024 false-news proceedings addressing s.173A, ordering decriminalisation (recorded in the Cases database)
6. 6Not formally repealed as at June 2026; the Cybercrime Bill 2023 (gm-cyber-draft) is intended to consolidate/replace these provisions but remains pending
7. 7Official primary text and exact enactment/commencement dates flagged for reviewer