WhatsApp owner agrees to hand over private data to South Africa
WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has agreed to hand over the private data of the individual or individuals who have been using its platforms to share illicit content featuring South African school children.
A settlement agreement was reached between the global tech giant and local attorneys led by social media legal expert Emma Sadleir, founder of The Digital Law Company, on Friday (18 July).
Sadleir had earlier in the week secured a court order instructing Meta to remove the channels and user accounts sharing the damaging content on WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta was also ordered to hand over the details of the individual or individuals who started them.
The accounts, sharing common user names and terms, published private and pornographic information, images and videos involving South African children.
Sadleir had identified at least 30 Instagram accounts and six WhatsApp channels distributing the content, with the owners expressing no remorse.
While Meta had removed some of the accounts, it failed to give up the details by the deadline ordered by the courts, prompting the firms to pursue a contempt of court charge against it.
However, before the matter escalated to that—where the lawyers were asking the courts to imprison Meta’s Southern Africa representative until the order was fulfilled—the tech company agreed to terms.
Under the agreement, Meta has shut down over 60 accounts linked to the activity and will supply Sadleir’s team with the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of the accounts.
It will also supply the IP addresses used by the creator/creators of the accounts at the time of signing up and at the last login.
This will be done within three business days, provided the details are not disclosed to the general public.
Sadleir says this marks possibly the first time in South Africa’s legal history that a global tech giant has agreed in writing to local courts to these kinds of terms.
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