#HandsOffSocialMedia as ‘internet censorship’ bill booed
Activists are urging people to oppose the government's plan to regulate social media.
#HandsOffSocialMedia: A PROPOSAL to regulate social media has been put forward by minister of state security, David Mahlobo and citizens are outraged.
An online petition by the Right 2 Know (R2K) Organisation against the proposal has garnered nearly 1,000 votes by South Africans who believe their freedom of speech under threat.
“The independent courts, a vibrant civil society and critical media are essential to the democratic process, especially when state entities fail to act with integrity, transparency or accountability. It is the executive’s paranoia and abuse of power that undermines democracy and creates instability.
R2K has already raised concerns that SA’s state-security structures have abused their surveillance powers and shown a disregard for democratic process. Mahlobo’s ‘regime change’ mantra is part of a recycled narrative where members of the security cluster have tried to paint their critics as ‘threats’ that must be targeted,” read a statement by R2K.
People have taken to Twitter to express their opposition to the proposal with the hashtag #HandsOffSocialMedia
Government wants to prevent the word of the common people so corruption can continue to rape our land. #Durban2022 #HandsOffSocialMedia
— Yashik Singh (@yashiks) March 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/Jiggasyd/status/841238372614057984
https://twitter.com/PhumiG/status/839201061466427392
Social media law specialist, Emma Sadleir even commented on the situation:
In sum: The answer to bad speech, is more speech #HandsOffSocialMedia @DJFreshSA
— Emma Sadleir Berkowitz (@EmmaSadleir) March 8, 2017
The campaign packaged the plan to regulate social media among other bills as affronts to freedom from censorship.
“It comes on the back of a range of existing, deeply problematic censorship policies, including the Film and Publication Board’s internet censorship regulations, the draft Hate Speech Bill, and the new Cybercrimes Bill, which would ‘hand the keys of the internet’ to David Mahlobo.
Regulation of social media already exists – platforms like Twitter and Facebook have added self-regulation measures to empower users to take action against online harassment and cut down on the spread of fake news and propaganda. These systems are flawed, and users need to be empowered to engage with content critically and decide for themselves whether to trust the content they access.
Giving state security any role in ‘regulation’ is a sure path to internet censorship.”
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