YOU may need to think twice before posting videos incriminating or embarrassing people on social media. A video that went viral recently is the subject of concern. It shows a minor stealing from a well-known fast food outlet in Durban. Not only is the minor’s face visible, but the video was shared more than 300 times on Facebook before it was eventually taken down.
Northglen News recently spoke to Verlie Oosthuizen, an attorney and partner at Shepstone & Wylie (Durban) about the difficulties faced by a group of administrators on social media platforms. Verlie specialises in employment law litigation in all forms and has developed further practice areas in Social Media Law and data protection compliance.
1. Can you be prosecuted for showing a criminal’s face before a case has been opened or the matter is in court?
“Underage accused person’s are not allowed to be identified. Furthermore, it is a gross invasion of privacy to put videos up like this outside of a controlled media environment where the appropriate checks and balances have not taken place. Journalists have an ethical code and are bound by certain legal provisions which social media users are not. This means that they may not know the limits of what they are allowed to post and what they are not allowed to post.
Read Also: Name and shame-What does the law say
2. Do you feel people keep mixing the US justice system and the SA justice system up? Especially when it comes to naming and shaming?
“Yes, this is a perennial problem with social media use in South Africa. Our media laws and our freedom of expression provisions are very different from the USA and so we cannot think that the same rules apply. If we keep using the same type of lessons from the USA we can get into a lot of trouble in terms of our own legal system.”
3. In the case of a video like this, what is the best thing to do?
“It is best to take it to the appropriate authorities and open a case so that they can do the necessary investigations.”
Read Also: Facebook admins beware, you could be held liable
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