President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into effect the Film and Publication Act which came to effect from 1 March 2022. Stricter regulations regarding the sharing of content on social media have been enforced in the Act. Sharing online content that is unlawful can land you in jail.
The regulations mainly apply to rental streaming of content on digital platform and sales in South Africa. Strict measures have been put in place to deter people from sharing content that could be harmful to others.
Revenge pornography
You are not allowed to share any sexual content of a person on any social media platforms if the person or people in the images or videos have not given consent to do so. If you are found to have shared sexual content without the approval of the person or people involved, you will be held liable and will have to pay a fine not exceeding R150 000 or serve a prison term of not more than two years.
This will not apply if the accused person believes that the shared content could be helpful in an investigation of a crime.
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Hate Speech
Hate speech refers to words that cause harm to a person or promote propagated hatred against a person or an identifiable group. It is a criminal offence for anyone to be promoting hate speech in any form. If you are found to be promoting hate speech you could be fined an amount that does not exceed R150 000 or face a prison term of two years or less.
Source: Jacaranda FM, The Bharat Express News, image from The Bharat Express News
