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Social media law expert Emma Sadleir believes that social media can be a powerful tool in fighting gender-based crimes.
“The role played by social media in naming and shaming is a hugely powerful and important role. If you look at #AmINext and #MeToo, the Harvey Weinsteins of the world would never have been held to account if there hadn’t been a social media campaign first,” Sadleir said.
Last month, Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that the number of gender-based crimes had increased dramatically, with over 9 000 cases reported between July 1 and the end of September. He said that it was deeply disturbing that over 9 500 cases of rape had been reported in the same period in the country.
With many victims of these crimes feeling that our justice system is failing, some end up telling their stories on social media, trying to get justice.
However, Sadleir warned that people must be careful what they are retweeting or sharing on social media. People who want to be socially active and support victims on social media can do so responsibly, ensuring that they guard against legal risk.
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“The law says that every single person in the chain of publication is responsible for content. If a person is sent a racist meme and they share that meme, the law says that they are responsible for that meme because, by sharing it, they are in the chain of publication,” Sadleir advised.
If a victim takes to social media to name and shame their alleged perpetrator, they’d be defaming them.
“To sue someone for defamation, you need to prove that the content was published, it referred to you directly or indirectly and it hurt your reputation.” Sadleir explained:
She said exposing that someone has done something illegal is definitely for the public interest. “All it depends on is truth. If a victim of gender-based crime is publishing it, they know that it is true; it is their experience.”
If someone has shared their experience on social media and you share their story, you become responsible for what they have posted, Sadleir said. “A person who is being defamed can sue the victim who shared their story and whoever shared or retweeted the victim’s post.”
Earlier this year, Thato “DJ Fresh” Sikwane obtained a court order interdicting and restraining poet/musician Ntsiki Mazwai from mentioning him in a defamatory manner.
City Press reported that this was after Mazwai had posted a tweet that originated from Facebook, by a user named Swazi, who alleged that Sikwane had forced himself on her at Montecasino, Johannesburg, 17 years ago. The judge ruled that the post shared by Mazwai was defamatory.
Sadleir said people needed to satisfy themselves by trying to check whether what had been shared on social media was true or not.
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“For me, I would name and shame, I would share other people’s stories but I would never share an anonymous account’s post. It is such an egregious and serious allegation that I need to satisfy myself if it is true.
“If my best friend told me what had happened to her and she posted it on social media, I would share it. But if someone I have never met posted something, I don’t know them, I don’t know whether it’s true, I don’t know if they have an axe to grind, I don’t know if there’s a malicious reason for doing it – I wouldn’t share it.”
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