Democratic Republic of the Congo

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has no adult-content age-verification law, social-media minor-access restriction, app-store age-verification requirement, or age-appropriate design code.

Loi n° 09/001 du 10 janvier 2009 portant protection de l'enfant, the DRC's general child-protection statute, gives the child a right to information at Article 28, under which the State ensures effective application of the legal texts guaranteeing dissemination of information that does not harm the child's moral integrity or development, and the State encourages, rather than requires, media to broadcast information and programming of social, cultural, and moral value to children; the duty runs to the State and to a parent exercising parental authority, not to a broadcaster, publisher, internet service provider, or cybercafe.

Article 179 separately criminalises producing, distributing, or making available pornographic material depicting a child, real or simulated, but as a general offence addressed to any person rather than a gating or access-control duty on a private service. The Law's text names no internet service provider, cybercafe, app store, or social platform anywhere in its 202 articles.

Ordonnance-loi n° 23/010 du 13 mars 2023 portant Code du numerique, the DRC's general digital-activity statute (see the privacy topic for this jurisdiction), addresses minors only twice: Article 29's list of e-commerce restrictions names 'la protection des mineurs' among the public-order grounds on which a digital service may face restrictive measures, without imposing any age-verification or access-control duty on a provider, and Article 247 conditions an information-society service offered directly to a minor on the consent of the holder of parental responsibility, which is a personal-data lawful basis provision (recorded under the privacy topic) rather than an age-gating duty.

Leganet's subject-organised legislation tables for administrative, civil, criminal, public, and social law, including its dedicated Jeunesse/Enfance section, carry no adult-content, social-media, design-code, or app-store age-verification statute for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.