{"id":149360,"date":"2026-03-18T15:46:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:28:09","slug":"cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","title":{"rendered":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ap-summary\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<h4>What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n<p>The Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) has issued a warning against the unauthorized sharing of creative works via WhatsApp and social media, emphasizing that such actions violate intellectual property laws. COSOTA&#8217;s copyright officer, Paul Makula, highlighted a recent increase in the distribution of music, films, and books without permission, urging the public to cease these illegal practices<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Tanzania. <\/strong> <\/span>THE Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) has warned that the unauthorised distribution of creative works via WhatsApp and social media is a criminal offence, carrying the risk of steep fines and imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>As digital sharing becomes more common, the agency is reminding the public that \u201cforwarding\u201d copyrighted music, films and books without permission is a direct violation of intellectual property laws.<\/p>\n<p>COSOTA copyright officer Paul Makula told the press that there had recently been a rise in people creating social media groups to distribute creative works such as music, films and written content without authorisation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecently we have seen a wave of dishonest individuals creating social media groups and distributing creative works without the permission of their owners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge the public to stop such actions as they are illegal and could result in imprisonment, fines or both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Makula also encouraged members of the public to report such activities so that the responsible parties can face legal action.<\/p>\n<p>COSOTA has further advised artists to consult the society before signing contracts with music labels to avoid disputes over ownership rights.<\/p>\n<p>He said some artists had entered into agreements that did not fairly protect their rights, leading to complaints when they later realised the contract terms.<\/p>\n<p>Makula also urged creators to register their works with COSOTA to secure proof of ownership and benefit fully from their creative content.<\/p>\n<p>The Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) was established to protect the rights of creators and ensure that their works are not exploited without permission. As digital platforms have proliferated, the challenge of unauthorized sharing has intensified, prompting COSOTA to take a proactive stance in educating the public about copyright laws and the importance of respecting intellectual property rights. This initiative aims to safeguard the interests of artists and promote a culture of respect for creative works in Tanzania.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Tanzania<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Need to Know The Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) has issued a warning against the unauthorized sharing of creative works via WhatsApp and social media, emphasizing that such actions violate intellectual property laws. COSOTA&#8217;s copyright officer, Paul Makula, highlighted a recent increase in the distribution of music, films, and books without permission, urging [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":149359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[11166,4873,4837,15299,3188,711],"class_list":["post-149360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-artists","tag-copyright","tag-cosota","tag-intellectual-property","tag-social-media","tag-tanzania"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp - Tanzania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tanzania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\"},\"wordCount\":392,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"artists\",\"Copyright\",\"COSOTA\",\"intellectual property\",\"social media\",\"tanzania\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\",\"name\":\"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp - Tanzania\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg\",\"width\":850,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/\",\"name\":\"Tanzania\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp - Tanzania","description":"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp","og_description":"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","og_site_name":"Tanzania","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp","datePublished":"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp"},"wordCount":392,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg","keywords":["artists","Copyright","COSOTA","intellectual property","social media","tanzania"],"articleSection":["all news","culture and art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp","name":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp - Tanzania","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-18T15:46:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-18T16:28:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"COSOTA warns against sharing copyrighted works on WhatsApp, highlighting legal risks and urging artists to protect their work","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2026\/03\/sm_1773850955.296476.jpg","width":850,"height":400,"caption":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/cosota-warns-against-sharing-artists-work-on-whatsapp#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COSOTA Warns against Sharing Artists\u2019 Work on Whatsapp"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/","name":"Tanzania","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}