FILMS AND PUBLICATIONS ACT: REVISED SCHEDULES TACKLE PRE-ELECTION MISINFORMATION

FILMS AND PUBLICATIONS ACT: REVISED SCHEDULES TACKLE PRE-ELECTION MISINFORMATION

• 22 March 2024
• Communications & Digital Technologies
• SA Legal Academy

Please note: On 26 April 2024, a notice was gazetted withdrawing the revised schedules. No explanation was provided.

The Film & Publication Board has gazetted revised schedules to the 1996 Act – informed by amendments published in 2019 and in force since 1 March 2022.

The new schedules:

• prohibit ‘propaganda for war; incitement of imminent violence and advocacy of hatred that is based on identifiable group characteristics, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm’
• in terms of section 18H, prohibit the use of ‘any medium including the internet and social media, any film, game or publication’ to disseminate ‘misinformation/disinformation’ and fake news deemed ‘harmful or disturbing’ because of its potential to ‘propagate for war, incite violence, or advocate hate speech’
• require internet and user-to-user service providers (including social media, video sharing platforms and search engines) to report on ‘reasonable measures’ being taken ‘to prevent prohibited content ahead of and during the 2024 national and provincial elections’, and
• impose severe penalties for non-compliance.

This is noting that the 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risk Report has identified misinformation and disinformation as:

• an ‘existential threat’ in the context of upcoming national elections worldwide
• the ‘most severe’ emerging ‘global risk’, and
• being likely to ‘further widen societal and political divides’ during the next two years.

Please click the links below for more details:

• revised schedules
• Amendment Act, 2019
• WEF report

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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