The Government of Senegal has just posed a new act in the regulation procedure for the press sector. Yesterday, Friday April 25, 2025, the Ministry of communication, Telecommunications and Digital, relayed by the Ministry of the Interior, made public a decree dated April 22, 2025, enjoining the media which are not in good standing with the provisions of the Press Code to cease any dissemination, any publication or publication, under penalty of sanctions and other criminal proceedings. Nearly 380 press bodies would be affected.
The hunt for “non -compliant media” is launched in Senegal. In a decree signed by Alioune Sall, Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital, the Senegalese government now imposes the immediate stop of the dissemination, publication and sharing of content that does not comply with the rules established by the Press Code. This text, dated April 22, 2025, explicitly targets the online, written and audiovisual media which would not comply with the legal standards in terms of information. “It is obliged to the non -compliant media to cease any dissemination or any sharing of content, supports in application of the provisions of the press code,” said the decree in his article 1.
In substance, according to the ministerial decree, online press companies which are not in accordance with article 178 of the press code must suspend all their dissemination activities, under penalty of sanctions provided for in article 193. The same goes for written press companies not respecting articles 66 to 72 of the same code, which risk heavy sanctions, in particular those listed in articles 194, 195, 203 and 204. The audiovisual is not to be outdone: any audiovisual communication company does not have an authorization in accordance with article 94 of the press code is also required to immediately stop its dissemination activities.
The decree also targets the “proliferation of non -compliant content and false news. Any person or entity disseminating such contents must submit to the provisions of the Criminal Code ”. Through this decision, the Government of Senegal takes a new act in its will to “regulate” the sector of the Senegalese press and communications, in numerical change. And this, at a time when traditional and digital media evolve quickly.
As a reminder, the Ministry of Communication published, on Thursday, February 6, 2025, an official media list in good standing with the press code. Of the 639 media declared to date, only 258 were in accordance, while 380 bodies did not meet the regulatory requirements, according to Habibou Dia, director of information.
