South Africa has several laws that aim at protecting children from abuse and exploitation among other things. While there are not so many specific laws that protect children online, the very laws that are supposed to protect children offline apply online. An example is the protection from bullying. The Protection from Harassment Act applies still when the bullying is cyber.
In the same regard, the laws that prohibit people from publishing information about children who are victims of, witnesses to or suspects of crime or abuse apply online. Legislation such as the Criminal Procedure Act, the Children’s Act, the Protection of Personal Information Act and the Films and Publication Act to name but a few, exist to provide children with protection when it comes to their photographs or videos being shared online.
The Films and Publication Amendment Act of 2019 even goes as far as prohibiting the distribution of photographs showing violence against children.[1] Still, despite the existence of such laws, members of the public continue to share images and videos of children including those showing children who are or have been abused.
A recent instance is a case involving a 16-year-old boy from Kwa-Zulu Natal who reportedly physically abused his eight-year-old sister. Images of the child with her bruises were widely shared on social media and this in turn grabbed the attention of the media who reported the matter.
One article by TimesLIVE caught the attention of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) for how it was reported. The article reported the matter without identifying either of the children or their parents. In addition to this ethical consideration, this medium included in the article information about the prohibition of the online distribution of the photographs involving the child victim. It is for these reasons that MMA selected the article as a GLAD[2] of the week. The article titled, “KZN teenager arrested for allegedly abusing 8-year-old girl with towel” and published on 1st March, 2021, was written by Orrin Singh.
According to the article, the 16-year-old was arrested and released into the care of his parents as he awaited a court appearance. Further, the eight-year-old victim was removed from the house and taken to a place of safety and that she would later be released into her biological mother’s custody. The article provides all this information and at the end quotes a source “calling for the public to stop circulating the disturbing pictures of the victim on social media, as the matter was receiving attention and it is illegal to publish pictures of a minor.”
MMA hardly comes across articles that deliberately caution the public to not distribute “disturbing” photographs of children online and because Singh’s article did this, it earned praise. The harm, including potential harm that might befall children as a result of having “disturbing” photographs or videos of them shared online is immense.
This is explained by MMA’s Public and Skills Development Manager, Phakamile Khumalo who also coordinates a digital literacy program targeting children in South Africa called Web Rangers.[3]
“We know that social media can be a powerful tool to rally the online community around an issue that is of public interest. However, we must also be more aware that our actions, as users, can contradict our efforts and cause further harm. Given the nature of the incident, the sharing of graphic images on social media could lead to potential harm, including secondary emotional trauma and potential victimisation of the child victim,” notes Khumalo.
Well done, Orrit Singh and TimesLIVE for ensuring the child victim in your story is protected from harm that could have come from being identified in your article but mostly for including a caution in your article to the public about not circulating the photographs of the child!
We look forward to more of such stories that are in the best interest of the children involved and are ethically written.
By Lister Namumba
[1] https://www.fpb.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Films-and-Publications-Amendment-Act-2019-English-text-signed-by-the-President-Assented-to-19-September-2019.pdf See Page 28
[2] GLADs are awarded to articles that responsibly report on children and promote their best interest.
[3] https://webrangers.co.za/ Click to learn more
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