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The Minister of ICT, Postal, and Courier Services, Hon. Tatenda Mavetera, has clarified the issue regarding potential licensing fees for WhatsApp group administrators under the Data Protection Act. The minister stated that it is neither feasible nor progressive to impose such fees on WhatsApp administrators.
Speaking to TechnoMag, she explained that the act does not apply to individuals who do not collect or process personally identifiable information for commercial purposes, meaning WhatsApp group administrators are not subject to these licensing requirements.
The matter had recently been the center of controversy and national outcry after Potraz had introduced regulatory fees for all data controllers including those administering social media and messaging tools
Dr Mavetera has however responded to the matter clearing air that there can not be a blanket approach to data controllers and clearly seperated those collecting personal data for commercial purposes from social activity.
In a statement she said, “I would like to distance myself from the malicious fake news of intentions by government to licence or penalise WhatsApp Groups or Administrators of any social media platform/s USD 2500.
This claim is not applicable especially to players who do not collect and process Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for commercial or business use.
Personally identifiable information (PII) is any type of data that can be used to identify someone, from their name , address to their phone number, passport information and I.d number.
The public is encouraged to disregard this notice with the uttermost discontent it deserves as it is inconsistent with our legal provisions as espoused in
Statutory Instrument (SI) 155 of the 2024 Cyber and Data Protection (Licencing of Data controllers and Appointment of Data Protection Officers) Regulations.
On my LinkedIn post I never expressed any intentions to licence or penalise WhatsApp groups or Administrators of any social media platform/s which do not collect and process (Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for commercial or business use.
I wish to assure the public of government’s commitment through the Ministry of Information Communication Technology Postal and Courier Services to accelerate cyber and data democratisation and security to ensure that No One and No Place is Left Offline.
This is in line with our overarching mandate to the constitution to promote access to information for all in a safe and secure environment”.
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