WhatsApp and Facebook owner in big trouble in South Africa
WhatsApp and Facebook owner Meta faces a contempt of court charge in South Africa.
Local attorneys are looking to hold the US-based group accountable for failing to provide data on individuals posting explicit content of South African school children on its platforms.
Earlier this week, social media legal expert Emma Sadleir, founder of The Digital Law Company, secured a court order demanding that Meta disable multiple accounts sharing illegal content on WhatsApp and Instagram and identify the individual(s) behind them.
According to the case, an unknown number of individuals opened at least 30 Instagram accounts and six WhatsApp channels where explicit content featuring South African school children was being shared.
The court gave Meta until 19h55 on 14 July to permanently disable the WhatsApp channels and Instagram accounts, and until 12h00 on 15 July to furnish the details of the creator’s identity.
This included the name, email address and telephone numbers provided by the creator, where available, as well as the IP addresses used by each person who created each channel.
However, Sadleir said that these requirements were not met by the ordered deadline. She now wants a new order giving Meta until 14h00 on 19 July to fully comply with the original court order.
If this is not met, an application will be brought holding Meta in contempt and to imprison Meta’s head of public policy for the Southern Africa region, Thabo Makenete, for 30 days or until the conditions are met (whichever is earliest).
In her founding affidavit, Sadleir said that Makenete had confirmed and acknowledged receipt of the previous court order and had shown that he was capable of complying.
This was evidenced by the shutting down many of the channels and accounts as ordered.
However, “new WhatsApp channels and Instagram accounts are being created by the perpetrator(s) every few minutes, soliciting and publishing private and pornographic information, images and videos involving South African children,” Sadleir said.
She stressed the importance of full compliance with the court order, as this would ensure that the perpetrator(s) are identified. However, Makenete and Meta have not complied, without explanation, she said.
“We are left to assume that Meta and Mr Makenete have the capability to comply with those orders, because, despite a demand for confirmation, they have failed to deny that they have that capability,” she said.
Silence in the face of urgency
Sadleir said that the matter is urgent, and two full business days have passed since the ordered deadline to comply.
According to the Digital Law Company, they received a letter from Facebook South Africa’s legal representatives stating that they had cited the wrong people in their legal action.
Facebook SA’s lawyers said that future correspondence should be addressed to the relevant Meta officials in the United States, as the local entity had no operational role on its platforms.
However, the Digital Law Company said Facebook SA’s correspondence was “puzzling” as their original letter of demand was not addressed to them, but to Meta and officials who work for the company.
“We have never sought any relief from Facebook SA, which (as we understand it) has no control over WhatsApp and Instagram. That control resides with Meta, to whom our demand was indeed addressed.”
“The perpetrator is not going to stop his campaign of terror on his own. He must be stopped. And Meta… are the only ones who can stop him,” Sadleir said.
The social media law expert said that the longer Meta fails to act, the greater the harm to the many school children affected by the activities.
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