From a silly tweet to months in jail – new social media laws in South Africa

From 1 March 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa approved the Films and Publications Amendment (FPA) Act. In addition, “The Amendment Act is set to transform the FPB completely, expanding its mandate and migrating it from a simple classification authority to a fully-fledged regulator, with the legitimate powers to issue and renew licences (certificates), accredit distributors and impose fines, in case of non-compliance.”

“Changes to the FPA Act seeks to modernise laws that protect the South African public from exposure to prohibited content distributed online, as well as exposure of children to harmful digital content that could have adverse psychological and behavioural impacts.

“Laws are enacted to give effect to the rights enshrined in the Constitution. The FPA Act seeks to balance the right to freedom of expression with the responsibility to protect our citizens from harm and to maintain social cohesion.”

What this means for all South Africans is the following:

No one may post a private sexual photograph of anyone, anywhere, without their permission. This law is to curb the rise in people publishing sexually explicit images of their previous partners. This practice is called “revenge pornography”.

No one may create, share or promote “hate speech”. This is anything that is motivated by prejudice, racism, or intolerance. These could be based on a number of different characteristics. According to the article on Businesstech, these include:

Age, Albinism, Birth, Colour, Culture, Disability, Ethnic or social origin, Gender or gender identity, HIV status, Language, Nationality or migrant or refugee status, Race, Religion, Sex, which includes intersex, Sexual orientation and others. Any negative comments on any of these and other categories is termed as “hate speech” and is now illegal in South Africa. If found guilty, the person who spread the message can be fined or serve time in jail, depending on the severity.

During the current time of war between Russia and Ukraine, it is very tempting to air our opinions online. However, if our posts are considered to be propaganda for war or that it will encourage others to violence – then we will be guilty of breaking the law.

“If an internet access provider has knowledge that its services are being used for the hosting or distribution of child pornography, propaganda for war, incitement of imminent violence or advocating hatred based on an identifiable group characteristic it shall immediately remove this content, or be subject to a fine”.

This new law has been met with different reactions. Some are very glad that it will discourage negative, hateful and harmful conversations online. Others are not happy with this form of censorship and feel that it compromises their right to freedom of speech.

These regulations are still new and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. For now, I encourage you all to think before you post, comment or share. If it is deemed harmful, you could be prosecuted.