President Cyril Ramaphosa has proclaimed that the Cybercrimes Act will come into full force as from today, including provisions on “malicious communications”, Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions reported.
Provisions on malicious communications, such as harmful messages on social media on a platform like WhatsApp and Facebook will be criminalized in South Africa.
Penalties for sending such WhatsApp messages of this nature include, imprisonment in jail for up to three years or a hefty fine as punishment.
This proclamation comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Cybercrimes Act into law this year in June.
WhatsApp messages which will be considered to be guarded against or criminalized by the Cybercrimes Act are defined as three types of harmful messages in South Africa, and they are messages that:
Incite damage to property or violence.
Threaten people with damage to property or violence.
Unlawfully contain an intimate image.
Use social media to fuel lawlessness.
Not excluding, definitions for cyber fraud, forgery, extortion, online extortion and theft of incorporeal property.
The Act will also guard against unlawful and intentional access of a computer system or computer data storage medium which is considered an offence, along with the unlawful interception of, or interference with, data.
Such a responsibility will also be placed on companies such as network operators, Internet service providers, and financial institutions. This approach by the South African government came into full effect also by the enactment of the POPI Act.
These WhatsApp messages can now land you in jail in South Africa https://t.co/xVBNiHsRXz
— MyBroadband (@mybroadband) November 30, 2021
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Sources: My Broadband
