STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA The reporters were chased on grounds of affiliation to the public media which are known for not airing views from the opposition political parties. 4.3.2.3 Social media under check/Surveillance The quarter under review saw a lot of social media checks which can be classified as surveillance on media houses as well as general citizenry. Social media content in Zambia has been under check by government authorities to a point of stalking individual online accounts. Posts on social media that are critical of government and government officials are treated as abuse of social media. For instance, on 19th March, 2018 Radio Mano9 Station Manager, Crispin Ntalasha was summoned by the police following a post by the radio fan on the Fan Club Page on Facebook. This is a clear case of state surveillance of private citizens on the social media. On how the police came to know about the post made by a fun on the fan club page can be a sign that the media including social media in the previous quarter was under surveillance. In this regard, to intensify check on the use of social media and other online media platforms, government intends to enact three bills namely; cyber security and cybercrime bill, the etransaction and e-commerce bill and the data protection bill to reduce online and social media abuse. The announcement of the three bills was done by Minister of Transport and Communication as well as Minister of Information and Broadcasting services. Media houses as well as social media usage in the first quarter continued to be under heavy surveillance with attention being made to posts deemed against government. Facebook posts especially that expose short comings of government are treated in the category of abuse of social media10. Further, social media posts especially critical of the President, have received criticism from both government officials and PF cadres. 9 th Radio Mano Station Manager, 19 March, 2018: Radio Mano Summoned By Police Over Alleged Facebook Posting 10 th Zambia Daily Mail, 14 March, 2018: Use Social Media Well- Msiska 15