Angola Freedom of Expression Online Despite the new batch of laws to regulate the media sector and the creation of the Media Regulatory Authority (Entidade Reguladora da Comunicação Social) with powers to monitor web content, and taking into account the holding of general elections, there are no records of any action on the part of government against any user, no websites were blocked and no-one was asked to take down content. Looking Forward to 2018 The next few months will be telling for the long-term prospects of the new president, with some saying that he is going too far, others that he dare not go too far. As it is, in November 2017 – three months after taking over the reins – João Lourenço relieved Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former president, as head of Sonangol. On the same day, João Lourenço cancelled the contracts between the public broadcaster and the privately-owned firms Westside and Semba Comunicações, belonging to Tchizé and José Paulino dos Santos, also children of the former president, which in practice ran the broadcaster’s TPA2 and TPA International channels. Public media journalists welcomed the news and the return to being managed by career journalists. Later in the month, Filomeno dos Santos, head of the Sovereign Fund, was removed from direct control of the Fund and made to report to the Secretary of State for the Budget and Public Investment, who in turn reports to the Minister of Finances. The Sovereign Fund is estimated at $5 billion and accusations of irregularities abound. Still in November, João Lourenço appointed new boards and directors to all public media houses (national radio and television broadcasters, news agency and national daily newspaper). He stated on the occasion that only with freedom of expression and press freedom could the country move towards a true democracy, in as much as these are rights that are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola, and which must be upheld by all. He said the media should allow more space for the voice of the public. This echoed the sentiments expressed by the new Minister of Social Communication (Media), João Melo, who in October defended that for the sake of credibility, public media outlets needed to practice balanced, pluralist, diversified, pragmatic and contextualised journalism and not a journalism that was bureaucratic and administrative. In a clear sign of change, the new head of Jornal de Angola, Victor Silva, in his first editorial for the paper, and referring to the removal of Isabel dos Santos as head of Sonangol, said that the changes taking place in the new political cycle were what had been promised during the electoral campaign. The changes would be founded on a society that regained its moral compass, with a serious fight against corruption and other practices detrimental to the public interest, to ensure the end of impunity and the opening of opportunities for all. Silva added that changes were almost always aimed at bringing in new dynamics and should not be seen as mere substitutions of faces and names. Concerning Isabel dos Santos’s exit from Sonangol, he stated that as a politically exposed person (PEP), she was an obstacle to development; during her tenure, the company’s indebtedness had worsened and there had been complications in terms of relations with foreign operators as Sonangol was struggling to secure financing. So This is Democracy? 2017 17