Scope of Jamii Forums in the New Media.
Since its formation in the year 2006, JamiiForums has remained one of the trusted online social networking platforms in which members upload content for the other members to react. In a report from International Federation for Human Rights (2017), JamiiForums.com has promoted the freedom of expression while ensuring the personal information about the users is confidential while they engage in an online discussion about the current affairs as well as issues on human rights. The discussions on the platform seek to enlighten the public about the affairs of the government including the emerging ills for appropriate critics. According to the JamiiForums platform (2020), most of the discussions and debates on the website are open and trust-worthy especially those that touch on grafts and scandals arising in the government. However, Dahir (2017) questioned the privacy of the users of JamiiForums especially those that are popular in posting scriptures that criticized. He claimed that following the demands from the government in some instances to disclose the identifications of the users of the website, most of the users of the website are likely to be overcome by the fear of being mistreated by the government. As a result, some of the topics that touch the government or prominent people within the government may miss fair discussions. Following the controversial arguments in the studies concerning the privacy and confidentiality of the users of JamiiForums, the issue remains questionable and worth researching.
For the past few decades, the use of information and communication technology in improving accountability and transparency, effectiveness as well as fairness in authority has brought back the trust of many people in various capacities. From a report compiled by the (world bank 1998), platforms that exploit digital technology in monitoring public bodies as well as the resources. Some of the ICT information and monitoring tools have been grouped as crowdsourcing tools, monitoring authorities, participatory new media as referenced in (Zanello and Maasen, 2011). Ushahidi, Bungesms and Mzalendo, and global voice are examples of crowdsourcing tools, monitoring authorities, and participatory news media respectively. From analysis by McNair (2017), most of the users on JamiiForums are always the key agents in the discussions out of which informed, unbiased political decisions are believed to be made. Most of the agents who take part in the forum are believed to be concerned and moved by the social injustices, inequality, or incompetency in various sectors in Tanzania.