Radical rule changes for putting videos on social media in South Africa proposed — including age restrictions
South Africa’s Film and Publication Board (FPB) has published draft guidelines for public comment on the classification of films, games and certain publications, which could see any videos posted online undergo the same scrutiny as movies and TV shows.
Law firm Webber Wentzel has warned that the changes could have far-reaching implications that go beyond existing and envisioned legislation to regulate online harms.
“The rapid uptick in the use of varied information-sharing channels has resulted in adults and children accessing large quantities of data, often from unreliable, and in some instances dangerous, sources,” the firm explained.
“Lawmakers across the globe have been steadily introducing laws to protect the public against these harms.”
Examples of these include the EU’s proposed Digital Services Act and the UK’s proposed Online Safety Bill, laws intended to regulate online harms.
In South Africa, the Protection of Personal Information Act recently came into effect, while parts of the Cybercrimes Act have also come into operation.
The latter criminalises the unlawful and intentional disclosure of harmful data messages such as intimate images of another person without their consent.
The proposals in the latest draft guidelines include changing the definitions of key terms to align them with those in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, and the Films and Publications Amendment Act.
In addition, the FPB includes a proposal that the distributors of a film, game, publication or online content will explicitly include people that stream content through the Internet, social media or other electronic media.
“This would seemingly include an individual posting a personal video on social media for non-commercial purposes,” Webber Wentzel said.
That implies that a social media user would have to submit their content for classification, which includes the addition of an age restriction to guide viewers on the nature of the content and whether it is safe for consumption by children.
The guidelines also propose stricter measures for classifying content.
“For example, the proposals aim to enhance the decision-making capability of adults (for themselves and their children) when consuming content, by providing them with the tools to make an informed choice,” Webber Wentzel said.
30 days for comment
South Africans have 30 days to submit comment on the changes from the guidelines’ publication date, which was on 4 February 2022.
Webber Wentzel also advised businesses who suspect the guidelines would affect them to contact the firm for assistance on a submission to the FPB.
The FPB’s full draft classification guidelines are embedded below.
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