Fake accounts, profiles and digital identities are explicitly targeted by the new cybercrime bill. The text also holds group administrators and internet users who knowingly reshare clearly illegal content accountable. The cybercrime bill is set to be debated and voted on in plenary session at the National Assembly on Friday.
A Version 2.0. A bill reforming cybercrime legislation is under review ahead of a plenary vote at the National Assembly on Friday. The stated objective is to "modernize the current legal framework to equip national authorities with a more effective legal system, compliant with international standards and respectful of the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms."
One of the innovations introduced by the text concerns fake profiles, commonly called "fake accounts," which now face more precise and stricter regulation. The bill introduces several provisions targeting fake accounts, fake profiles and fraudulent use of digital identities. Article 17 specifically provides for "imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of 5,000,000 ariary to 50,000,000 ariary."
This penalty applies notably to "creating, organizing, operating or knowingly participating in a coordinated network of information manipulation through fake accounts, automated accounts or any other means, with a view to committing or facilitating the commission of an offense provided for by this law."
The provision also sanctions deceiving a person through a fake account, fake profile or false digital identity, particularly to induce them to hand over funds, valuables or property. It also targets the creation, administration or use of an account, page or digital group intended to facilitate the commission of a criminal offense. Fraudulent use of an account, profile or digital identity belonging to another is also covered.
"Penalties are doubled when the acts are committed by an organized gang or through a coordinated manipulation network," the same article emphasizes. The bill defines a coordinated manipulation network as "any set of accounts, automated or not, acting in concert to artificially disseminate or amplify content or information."
Administrator Responsibility
The bill is stricter regarding what it calls "digital fraud or scam," particularly when committed through fake profiles. Perpetrators face "two to ten years imprisonment and a fine of 2,000,000 ariary to 100,000,000 ariary, or one of these penalties only."
Again, penalties are doubled when acts are committed by an organized gang. The same applies when they have a transnational character or when they were facilitated or amplified by artificial intelligence (AI).
Compared to the 2014 law, the bill submitted to the National Assembly aims to establish a new legal framework adapted to new forms of cybercrime. Beyond digital fraud, it provides for sanctions against cyber-harassment, offenses related to cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, as well as what is commonly called "sextortion." It also aims to strengthen the fight against and sanctions for child sexual abuse material and online child sexual exploitation.
The text also provides criminal penalties against "anyone who intentionally and unlawfully disseminated, sold, distributed, transmitted, published, shared or otherwise made available an intimate image of a person through an information and communication system, without the consent of the person depicted in the image."
Responsibility does not stop with the creator or user of a fake account. The bill also extends it to those who administer digital spaces and those who distribute content.
According to Article 52, "the criminal liability of a content creator, group administrator or digital page manager can be engaged for clearly illegal content published by a third party on that digital space when it is established that they knew of it and voluntarily refrained from removing it after notification or court decision."
Criminal liability of any person who shares, republishes or keeps content online can also be engaged when they act "with knowledge of its clearly illegal nature or despite a removal or blocking measure."