Panellists debate internet regulation in South Africa

By David Jenkin

Assembled before an audience of mostly industry professionals were Sipho Risiba, CEO of the Film and Publications Board (FPB), Ant Brooks, special advisor to the Internet Service Provider’s Association and founding member of The Future Foundation, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, public policy and government relations manager for Google SA, Justin Spratt, Uber’s head of business for Sub-Saharan Africa, with Andrew Allison, IAB SA’s head of regulatory affairs and director of Quirk, acting as facilitator. 

Allison introduced the discussion by outlining the global nature of the issue and the volume of conversations happening with countless stakeholders around an issue which is really unprecedented. “It’s a unique age to be living in,” he said, “and a very difficult time for anyone trying to regulate it.” He added that most participants in the conversation do believe that free is speech is not an absolute right and some degree of regulation is necessary, but the point of departure was around how much and who should be doing it. 

The discussion kicked off with a question put to Risiba about the FPB’s heavily criticised amendment bill – sometimes dubbed the censorship bill – and the controversy it has caused. He explained that the bill was intended to expand their mandate but there was confusion since it is the first of its kind, and the misconception that FPB were trying to regulate the internet, which he believes isn’t really possible anyway. 

“What we seek to regulate, essentially, is the behaviour in terms of how people behave when they engage online, our consumer’s perspective of what amounts to prohibited content, and our scope is limited to that.” Regulation through partnership will be the way to go, he said, working together to leverage what is already there rather than reinventing the wheel.

Spratt said that markets do successfully self-regulate and they are incentivised to do so, although there is a need for regulation in the “fringe cases” which can be harmful. He said, “I think the ‘open web’ is very clean from that perspective, I think the problem happens on what we call the dark web, on one-to-one communications.”

He cautioned against well-intentioned laws to regulate the open web which could have unintended consequences. “Do the harmful examples outweigh the consequences of trying to have a small group of people decide what should be on the internet?” 

While Risiba acknowledged that self-regulation is the way to go, he maintained that there was a need for uniform standards and the creation of a framework within which self-regulation should happen. “I think it’s also important that we define for ourselves, that we decide as South Africans, what is decent… we believe that (the FPB) do have a role to play within the industry in so far as setting these boundaries.” An example he gave was how, when setting film classification guidelines, South Africa applied a higher rating than the US on films that depict sexual violence. He used the term ‘co-regulation’ to describe a relationship wherein entities such as Google employed a ratings system that is aligned to that of the FPB.

The question of the protection of children came up repeatedly, with Brooks maintaining that as children generally have no oversight on the devices they use, education around digital literacy and the law therefore becomes a key issue, points that Mgwili-Sibanda echoed. With regards to the possible impact of regulation, Mgwili-Sibanda expressed concern that rigid and outdated laws could discourage investment and hamper entrepreneurs, concern shared by Spratt. Risiba countered that regulation would be constructed around scientific studies and would be aimed at avoiding barriers for business, but rejecting regulation wholesale is not constructive. Finding a balance was key, he stressed.

The debate was rushed to a conclusion due to time constraints, but common ground was reached with the notion that regulation governing the internet needed to be a clear, flexible framework, which is unrestrictive, and that there is a need for improved digital literacy in various sectors. 

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