The Film and Publication Board (FPB) has issued a legal notice on South Africa’s internet service providers demanding that they comply with amendments to the Film and Publications Act.
The legal notice requires internet service providers to report on measures they have taken to tackle the proliferation of child sexual abuse material and “other online harms” on their platforms and/or services.
According to the FPB, service providers have 90 days to register with the regulator and provide various reports about prohibited material on their networks.
Internet service providers (ISP) must provide reports on all reasonable steps taken to prevent the use of their services for hosting and distributing prohibited material.
These include child pornography, propaganda for war, incitement of imminent violence, and advocating hatred based on an identifiable group characteristic that constitutes incitement to cause harm by any person.
According to the FPB’s interim chief executive officer, Dr Mashilo Boloka, “This is a monumental step to protect children and the members of the public against online harms pursuant to the objective of the Act, which came into operation on 1 March 2022.”
This is preliminary information-gathering process to see the ISP’s effort in combating online harm and abuses. Since this is the first step, in instances where the ISP falls short, they will be given an opportunity to self-correct within a prescribed time, Boloka said.
“We sincerely hope that the operators will be open and honest in their reporting. Based on the reports we receive, the FPB shall determine whether to make this a compulsory reporting requirement every quarter.
“Concurrent to this notice, we will also be analysing the various co-regulatory industry codes and working with co-regulators to ensure alignment with the amendment Act and its regulations,” Boloka said.
The laws have faced a lot of criticism, particularly in the broad definition of a ‘distributor’ of film, game or published content, as well as the sweeping powers of oversight they give the FPB over any published content in South Africa.
Source: Business Tech, My Broadband, image from Twitter: @_AfricanSoil