Sharing or sending of nude pictures or nude tapes will attract 5 year imprisonment if the gazetted Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill becomes law.
Nudes have been part of Zimbabwean social media entertainment for years. Sharing of nudes trended on Facebook earlier this year under the “Nobody can stop reggae” slogan.
Celebrities, university students and cheating spouses have been the most affected over the years.
People like socialite Pokello Nare, musicians Stunner and Sebastian Magacha, former Miss Zimbabwe Thabiso Phiri and radio and television personality Tinopona “Tin Tin” Katsande, Denzel “Jabu” Burutsa, Mafcatt have been victims of explicit tapes and nudes being leaked to social media.
Trends show that only a few can raise from leaked images and videos but the rest succumb to damaged reputation and others lose jobs.
In a bid to protect citizens, the new Bill seeks to jail individuals that leak or publish nude pictures on social media/online.
An individual who leaks or publishes intimate images without consent risks being jailed up to five years if the bill that was gazetted on Friday becomes law.
“Any person who unlawfully and intentionally by means of a computer or information system makes available, broadcasts or distributes a data message containing any intimate image of an identifiable person without the consent of the person concerned causing the humiliation or embarrassment of such person shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 10, or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and such imprisonment,” read the bill.
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