Togo’s media regulator wants to know who the country’s creators are. On Monday, Nov. 9, the Haute Autorité de régulation de la communication écrite, audiovisuelle et numérique, better known as HARC, put out a statement asking influencers, bloggers, TikTokers, YouTubers and anyone else making content on social media in Togo to sign up for a new national database. As Togo First‘s Esaïe Edoh put it, the regulator has launched a nationwide census of digital content creators.
What the regulator is asking for
According to Actu Lomé, the notice is numbered 008/HARC/26/P, signed by HARC president Pitalounani Telou, and was posted as a PDF on the regulator’s official website Monday afternoon. Its wording is broad: it is addressed to all content creators, bloggers, influencers, TikTokers and YouTubers, plus “all other actors on social networks.”
Signing up works through a QR code printed at the bottom of the statement, which opens an online form. AFREEQUE, which based its report on 24 Heure Info, says the form is also on HARC’s site, harctogo.tg. Creators are asked for their first and last names, where they live, their field of specialty or activity on social media, an email address and a phone number.
The stated aim, per La Nouvelle République, is to give the regulator up-to-date information on the people creating and sharing content on social networks. Telou has called on those affected to cooperate so the operation runs smoothly.
No deadline, no penalty, for now
Several outlets flagged the same detail: the statement sets no deadline and doesn’t mention any sanction for creators who don’t register. Actu Lomé notes it doesn’t describe registration as mandatory either. Instead, Telou says he is counting on the “full mobilization” of creators and their “sense of responsibility.”
That softer tone matches how HARC first approached creators. Actu Lomé reports that a previous statement on Sept. 14 called creators to HARC’s headquarters for a meeting held Sept. 22 in Lomé, with the Ministry of Communication, the national cybersecurity agency (ANCy) and the personal data protection authority (IPDCP) in the room. At that session, Telou said the goal wasn’t to stop anyone from speaking, and that the regulator would lean on education, training and dialogue, while pointing to misinformation, privacy violations and hate speech as concerns. The state broadcaster’s site, République Togolaise, also described the census as a follow-up to that meeting.
The job is new for HARC. Actu Lomé explains that the regulator’s powers only reached digital communication, including social networks and online platforms, under the Constitution of May 6, 2024. Before that, it mostly oversaw newspapers, radio and TV.
A directory for brands, or more oversight?
Togo First’s Edoh sees two possible sides. On the business side, a directory of creators sorted by specialty could make Togo’s influencer marketing scene more organized and easier for advertisers to tap. A food company could find creators who cover cooking and local products, he writes, while a telecom operator might look for creators with a strong following among young, connected consumers. That could matter most for small and medium-sized businesses, which use influencer marketing to promote themselves without paying traditional media ad rates. Edoh also notes the industry supports work for photographers, videographers, editors, designers, social media managers and agencies.
On the oversight side, he writes that the census could help authorities understand the industry, tell creators about the rules that apply to them and spot training needs, at a time of growing concern about misinformation, misleading ads, hate speech and privacy violations online.
Actu Lomé added a practical warning. Because the form collects personal data, including a phone number, creators should only use the form linked from the official statement or harctogo.tg, not links forwarded in messages or group chats, since fake forms and scam platforms spread quickly in Togo. For now, the outlet says, nothing changes about how creators publish. Registering mainly tells HARC who is making content, in what area and how to reach them, and it is also how creators will hear about the meetings and training sessions the regulator says it is planning.
The takeaway
Governments everywhere are trying to figure out what to do with creators, and Togo’s first move is simply to count them. A voluntary sign-up with no deadline and no penalty is about as light a touch as regulation gets, and the pitch to creators is that being on the list could put them in front of brands. But a database is usually where rules start, not where they end. For creators anywhere, the lesson is the same: know who’s asking for your details, use only official channels, and keep an eye on what a “census” turns into.
Featured image: Rue Damipi, Agbalépédogan, Lomé, Togo, by Saliousoft via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
